There was an old saying that went,
Sounds as if there has been a problem with patience for a very long time. Do you think it is true? Yet it's just a bit extreme, don't you think? After all, David, the man who wrote this Psalm, could say, "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry" (Ps. 40.1).
We aren't really sure what David's specific need was, but he had been in a very uncertain and difficult situation from which he had known the Lord's rescue and help. "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand" (v. 2).
There is an advertisement on TV at the moment for a particular four-wheel-drive. It's very graphic, but I can't remember the brand. It mustn't be such a good ad after all! Two men are standing by the road when the 4WD comes along. The driver offers them a lift, but they need more than a lift. Next thing the 4WD is towing a semi-trailer with another trailer behind out of the deep muddy bog where it was totally hidden from sight. An impossible situation - and I am sure the manufacturers would be hard-pressed to prove their vehicle could really perform the feat!
David is talking about an impossible situation where no human help would suffice. Just what was his need? We don't know, but we have just two pointers. Later on in the Psalm he says, "May all who seek to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. May those who say to me, 'Aha! Aha!' be appalled at their own shame" (vv. 14,15). There are those who are plotting his downfall and threaten to take his life.
But David also says, "Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me" (v. 17a) and acknowledges, "For troubles without number surround me, my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me" (v. 12). This doesn't mean that he has sinned in some specific way that has brought this situation on him. Most times there isn't a direct connection between a specific sin and our human situation. (Life didn't collapse around him when he sinned with Bathsheba). But David knows that, in the face of stiff opposition, he can only stand under God's mercy and grace.
So here is the strong word for us today, "Blessed is the man (and woman) who makes the Lord his/her trust" (v. 4a).
What is the situation we face? What is the "slimy pit", the "mud and mire" that holds us down, frustrates and discourages us? What are the circumstances beyond our control that bring us to anxiety and fear?
David began the Psalm with the words, "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry" (v. 1). He concludes the Psalm, "You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay" (v. 17b). He has waited patiently and known God's help in the past. But it sounds as if he wants prompt action right now!
After my father died in February 1987, I recall my mother saying, "I don't know how people cope who don't have faith" - words I have heard from many others since then.
"Blessed are those who make the Lord their trust." Live under God's forgiveness and grace - poured out so generously on us in Jesus Christ. Wait patiently - with confident trust in the Lord.
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