Highlights:

Praise for answered prayer; David's enemies' treachery; his longing for God's presence; greatness of God's glory.

I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings (Ps. 40:1-2).

Looking back upon the past, the psalmist recalled how he had experienced many hopeless situations to which there seemed to be no end. It was like being encased in a pit where he continued to sink in the mire. David confessed his helplessness and his great need for God to lift him out of the mire of earth's problems. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill. Selah (3:4). As the God of great mercy answered David's prayer and lifted him up, his faith became firm as a rock. Likewise our faith through prayer is reinforced just as David and Paul's were (see II Cor. 11:24-27) through the faith of Christ (Phil 3:9).

The word patiently means more than quietly enduring; in a sense, it also carries the thought of a doctor's patient — one who is suffering and needs a physician.

The psalmist felt assured that he was under the watchful care and wisdom of the Great Physician, who is capable of caring for the most hopeless patient. He could wait patiently for the Lord with complete confidence, knowing the Great Physician had chosen the very hour for his restoration. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh (James 5:8).

The Apostle Paul wrote of his sufferings in serving Christ: Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck . . . in perils of waters, in perils of robbers . . . in perils by the heathen . . . In weariness and painfulness . . . in cold and nakedness (II Cor. 11:24-27).

God does not prolong our suffering one moment beyond the wisdom of His great love. Only one who waits patiently for the Lord (Ps. 40:1) experiences the deeper walk by faith and not by sight (II Cor. 5:7). When we realize our only hope is in the Lord, that is when we truly begin to learn that we are safe in His care. God is always faithful to take care of His own.

For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him (Is. 64:4; compare I Cor. 2:9).

Thought for Today:

Walking in fellowship with the Lord often means suffering with Him.

Christ Revealed:

As One who will do the will of God (Ps. 40:6-8). Jesus said that His purpose on earth was to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work (John 4:34; Heb. 10:7-9).

Word Studies:

40:6 ears . . . opened, You have given me a heart to hear and obey; 41:3 make all his bed in his sickness, sustain him in all his sickness; 42:1 panteth after, longs for; 42:11 health, salvation; 44:19 sore broken, severely crushed; 45:1 inditing, overflowing with; 45:6 right sceptre, righteous rule.

Prayer Needs:

Pray for International Broadcasts in memory of Dr. John A. Hash • Staff: Chris Robison • Country: Latvia (2.48 million) eastern coast of Baltic Sea in northeastern Europe • Major languages: Latvian and Russian • Religious freedom • 20% Protestant (mainly Lutheran); 20% Roman Catholic; 15% Orthodox; .9% Jewish; .4% Muslim; 43.7% Atheist/Agnostics/Other • Prayer Suggestion: Trust in the Lord; He is your refuge (Ps. 15:1-4).

Optional Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1

Memory Verse for the Week: Revelation 22:12