Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Special Services

Thanksgiving 1999

 Singing is often an indication that life is going well. It is an outward expression of inward happiness, joy or contentment. At lease at that moment we are singing. However, despondent, sad, unhappy, miserable people rarely sing.

 For the Christian who has been delivered from the bondage of sin and death through faith in Jesus Christ, singing a song of thankfulness and praise to God should come naturally.

 But we know that isn't always what happens is it? It's hard to sing when you are experiencing tough times, times of sickness, suffering and pain. It is hard to sing when you face the consequences for your wrong behavior. It is hard to sing when your future seems unknown.

Trans: Hard, but not impossible.  In our text this evening, we see an example of how one man chose which song he would sing. And how the choice he made not only benefited him but those around him as well. Turn to Psalm 40:1-5, here we will briefly examine 8 steps to singing the song of the Lord in your heart and with your mouth.

Step One: The Pits!
 David found himself figuratively in the bottom of a horrible pit. We are not told what the difficult situation was. But he gives us 2 descriptions of what I believe shows his emotional state and the desperate situation he was in.

 -The pit of destruction: Desolate, despairing. He had hit bottom. There seemed to be no way out. It was deep, and dark. Picture being dumped into a deep well in the middle of the night with no light to see anything. It was meant for his destruction and he knew it.

 -The miry clay: If being in the pit wasn't bad enough, as he tried to move he felt himself sinking in the muck and sludge at the bottom and was going deeper and deeper with each move he made. The picture is one of helplessness and desperation.

APP: We've been there, haven't we? We come to the end of our rope. Everything we do seems to sink us deeper into the muck and further into trouble and we see no way out.

Trans: That is where David was and that is where many of you have been at one time or another in your life. So what do you do?

Step Two: Cry out!
 But to whom do we cry? We have two choices.
 -First we can cry out to the world. We can seek help and comfort in worldly things and pleasures.
...Getting drunk or high on drugs. Running away or seeking comfort in our work or material things.

  -The problem is that David says in verse 4 those who do this are trusting in the proud and the liars. We seek comfort in what promises to deliver but only causes us to sink deeper into the muck.

 -Second we can cry out to God. That is David's recommendation and mine as well. Why, because vs 4 says the one who trusts God and cries out to Him, to God is blessed.

Trans: Once we trust God  and cry out to Him, what's next?

Step Three: Wait Patiently!
 It literally says 'Waiting, I waited' It denotes a persistence in waiting. He expected relief from no other than God Himself and had no doubt God would come through. So he waited, regardless of how long it would take God to respond.

 Yet, for most Believers, this phrase should read, 'I waited impatiently for the Lord.' We don't like or really know how to wait patiently. It is a spiritual discipline of which most of us are not exercising.

Step Four: God hears and Answers!
 God hears our cry, out of all the cries of all His children in the world. He hears YOU! That is awe inspiring in itself.

 THEN, not only does He hear your cry, He inclines Himself to you.  He bends down, as it were, to you and I, personally and specifically. He turns and focuses His attention on us.

Step Five: God delivers!
 God hears us, turns toward us and then saves us from the destruction of the pit. And He does this every day. To God be the glory. God delivers us FROM floundering in the miry clay of desperate circumstances.

 AND He delivers us TO a place of security. To a rock which is the symbolic place of God's protection, to a place of rest, a place of sure footing. To a place of joy and peace.

Step Six: God gives!
 God makes us singers! He places a new song in our hearts. A song of praise and thanksgiving for the mighty work of God in our life.

 Each time God delivers us from the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay of difficult circumstances, He gives us a new song of praise. Because we experience God anew and that brings joy to our hearts.

Step Seven: We go public
 All of Psalm 40 is David's declaration to the congregation Israel of God's mighty acts in his life.  Verse 10 says 'I have not hidden thy righteousness in my heart. I have spoken of thy faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.'

 If that isn't a challenge to sing forth the praises of God I am not sure what is. Admittedly, perhaps you may not be a talented singer, but you can speak the proclaim the faithfulness of God in your life to this great congregation here at CBC and to those whom you come into contact with.

 We give God thanks, we praise Him and we do it publicly!

Step Eight: We share our blessing!
 David's thoughts were not centered on how God met his needs. No, David sees the big picture and says because of what God has done in his life, many other people will know of it and will come to faith in the Lord.

 David didn't want to be the only one who benefited from God's work in his life. David is so much a part of the 'congregation' that he sees a blessing given to him as a blessing given to the whole. And he tells them so they could share in God's faithfulness.

Conclusion:
 David could have kept God's wonderful deeds to himself. And so could you when God moves in your life in ways only He can to deliver you from a desperate situation. And more often than not, we do just that, remain silent.

 If David had remained silent, perhaps many wouldn't have come to trust in the Lord. Perhaps many would have missed a blessing from God to help them on their journey to Christlikeness.

 My challenge to you tonight is whose song are you singing? The worlds because that is where you cry out to when you are in a desperate situation?

 Whose song are you singing? The one belonging to the silence found in your heart never to surface and leave your lips?

 Whose song are you singing? The one you selfishly hold onto, not willing to share  with others?

 Or will you stand in the congregation and sing..or shout, or quietly proclaim your song of praise and thanksgiving of the God who heard your cry, reached out delivered you and place a song of praise and thanksgiving in your heart?

 If you never do it again, you can do it now. Let's sing to the Lord a new song of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. In the company of His people.