What Song Are You Singing - Psalm 40

On Pray.com’s Weekly Wisdom, Pastor Jeff Schreve delves into the complexities of navigating life's most challenging moments. Unraveling the mysteries of despair, he provides insightful guidance for those who find themselves engulfed in the metaphorical abyss. The feeling of hopelessness can easily pervade our spirits when we are caught in life's darkest corners. Pastor Jeff offers transformative solutions, demonstrating how reliance on God can serve as the beacon of light needed to ascend from these daunting pits of despair.

Welcome to Weekly Wisdom, an inspirational series hosted by Pastor Jeff Schreve. Each week, Pastor Jeff illuminates different sections of the Holy Bible, meticulously extracting pivotal themes and life lessons that can enrich and uplift your daily life. 

This series invites you to delve deeper into understanding the scripture, offering a transformative platform for spiritual growth. As you navigate through this journey, you will be offered an opportunity to fortify your relationship with God, accompanied by Pastor Jeff's insightful guidance. 

Join us weekly as we engage in heartfelt prayer and foster a stronger connection to God, under the expert guidance of Pastor Jeff Schreve. Experience a profound transformation as you embrace the wisdom of the Bible, distilled for you, each week.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Psalm forty, beginning in verse one. I waited patiently for
the Lord, and he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He brought me up also out of a horrible pet,
out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon
a rock, and establish my goings. And he has put
a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God.

(00:22):
Many shall see it in fear, and shall trust in
the Lord. Blessed is the man that makes the Lord
his trust and respects, not the proud, nor such as
turn aside to lies. Let's pray, Father in heaven, thank
you for your word. Thank you that you are a
God who delivers, even from the deepest, darkest pits. Lord,

(00:42):
help us to wait upon you, Help us to patiently
wait when we're in a difficult time, knowing that you
are the God who listens to our prayers, the God
who answers, and the God who delivers. We love you,
we praise you, and we trust you in Jesus name. Amen.

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Speaker 1 (02:14):
Hi, friends, Welcome to this episode of the Weekly Wisdom
podcast from pray dot Com. I'm Pastor Jeff Shreeve, the
pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas, and the
founder of from his heart ministries want to read to
you from Psalm forty, David said, I waited patiently for
the Lord, and he inclined under me and heard my cry.

(02:37):
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit,
out of the mirie clay, and set my feet upon
a rock, and establish my goings. And he hath put
a new song in my mouth, even praise under our God.
Many shall see it in fear, and shall trust in
the Lord. Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord
his trust and respecteth, not the proud, or such as

(03:00):
turn aside to lies. Hey, what do you do when
you find yourself in a pit? As David found himself
in a pit? What is a pit? It's a deep,
dark hole. It's a terrible pit, maybe of sin, or
maybe of discouragement, or maybe of shame, or maybe of despair.

(03:22):
And what do you do if you're in that pit
and you are the reason why it was your own sinful, selfish,
short sighted choices. You know, it's easy to feel overwhelmed
and hopeless when you find yourself in the pit, when
everything seems to be falling apart in your life and

(03:42):
you're down in that deep dark hole. It's very easy
to sing the blues, and it's very easy to start
wallowing in self pity. And it's especially awful for those
of us who want to please God. But we find
ourselves struggling and failing, and we're in pit of a
stronghold of sin. So let's take a look at what

(04:04):
life in the pit looks like. So David described this pit,
this abandoned well, a deep hole in the ground with
myrie clay. You know, when you're in that place, to
be sure your feet are in the clay, and you
feel stuck, start asking, well, how am I ever going
to get out of here? This is a place, that pit,

(04:26):
where you find yourself sinking down into the mud and
you're unable to move forward. You're unable to make progress.
You're just stuck. Now do you ever feel stuck in
the same sin, the same defeats over and over again
with no end in sight. That's what it's like to
be stuck in the pit. But not only are you

(04:47):
stuck there in the pit, you're also in a place
where there's no firm footing. You know, David talks about
the myrie clay, the slimy clay where it's slippery. In
the slippery, slimy clay, you can't stand firm. You can't
find solid ground to get a foothold on. And when

(05:11):
you can't stand firm, you become very vulnerable to the
attacks of the enemy. Because the Bible tells us to
stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Hard to
do that in a pit. And finally, a pit is
a place where you can't see forward. When you're down
in the pit, all you can see is dirt and
the sides of the pit. We don't see a way forward.

(05:31):
And when you don't see a way forward, this is
just being totally honest, you start to feel very helpless
and very hopeless. So what do you do? What can
we do when we find ourselves in the pit as
David found himself in the pit? Or we can do
what he did. We can cry out to the Lord
and wait patiently for him. We can lift our voice

(05:53):
to the Lord and get our eyes on him. He
says in verse two, he brought me up also out
of a horrible pit, out of the mirie clay, and
set my feet upon a rock and established my goings.
He made my footsteps firm David was no longer stuck.
He now had firm footing and a way forward. And

(06:13):
that's what happens. When we turn to God and trust
in his love and grace and power, he lifts us
out of the pit and he puts a song of
praise in our mouth. So, friends, when your life feels
like it's in the pit, turn to God and trust
his love, and trust his grace and trust his ability
to lift you up and give you a firm place

(06:35):
to stand hold on to the confident assurance that He
will never leave his children or forsake his own. No
matter what we may face or how poorly we are struggling,
God will not leave us. Hey, maybe you need to
pray a prayer like this with me. Dear God, I
feel stuck, stuck in a deep dark pit. I feel

(06:57):
like I'm sinking in the mud and I'm losing hope.
But today I choose to look to you and trust
in you, Lord Jesus. I believe that you do hear
my prayer, and that you will deliver me and work
all my struggles for good and for your glory. I
choose to praise you today because you are going to

(07:19):
pull me out of this pit. Whether you change my
circumstances or just change me, I know that my deliverance
is coming, and so thank you Jesus, You alone are worthy,
and I pray this in your matchless name. You've been
listening to Pastor Jeff Shree, the pastor of First Baptist
Church in Texa, Canada, Texas, and the founder from his

(07:41):
Heart Ministries. May the Lord bless you and keep you,
and make his face shine upon you, and be gracious
to you and grant you peace.