Transcendent Gratitude

Gratitude in Terrific Times

Salvation (v. 1-3)

The first act of salvation from the Lord that David describes is God’s attention being turned toward David.

“He inclined to and heard my cry” or “He turned to me and heard my cry for help.”

It is certainly not that God finally heard David’s message but that the moment of God’s intervention has arrived.

God always hears our cries for help. 1 John 5:14 “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”

The second act of salvation from the Lord is David being lifted up from the pit of destruction.

This is most likely figurative or poetic language. David wasn’t actually stuck in a pit or cistern of some kind, but emotionally he felt like it.

Whatever the actual circumstance that prompted David to write this Psalm he describes his salvation from as being lifted out of a muddy, slimy, desolate pit.

Illustration: Our well pump died this past week… the pump was so stuck in the mud at the bottom of the well that three men couldn’t pull it up.

The third act of salvation from the Lord is David being set in a safe place. Not only did God draw David out of the pit He placed him on the rock.

David says that the Lord has “made his steps secure.”

Through out Scripture a “rock” is a symbol of strength and security. So much so that God Himself is described as our Rock. Psalm 18:1–3 “I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.”

Thus in a very real sense the rock that David has been placed on is the Lord.

The result of salvation from the Lord is that David sings a song of praise to the Lord.

Directly or indirectly all praise is an expression of gratitude to the Lord.

This is not an old song but a new one placed in the mouth of David by God.

This is a song to be shared so that many will have their eyes opened and fear the Lord and put their trust in Him.

The impetus of this salvation from the Lord was the faithful waiting of David.

The opening words of the Psalm are an expression of David’s faith in the Lord. “I waited patiently for the Lord.”

In the Hebrew a certain intensity is communicated with this phrase. “I waited and waited for the Lord.”

To wait on God is acting on faith.

Application

Does this formula sound familiar?

Faith that leads to salvation.

Being stuck in a pit is a common picture in Scripture that sometimes is quite literal.

Joseph

Jeremiah

It undoubtedly pictures our lives without Christ. We are stuck and absolutely require an outside source of strength to pull us out.

Blessing (v. 4-5)

The salvation from the Lord in v. 1-3 leads to the blessing from the Lord in v. 4-5.

The man who puts his trust in the Lord is blessed.

This is stated both positively and negatively.

Positively his trust is in the Lord

Negatively he has turned away from the proud liars.

When you stop and take an honest look at all that God has blessed you with what do you find? You find that God has done more for you than you know.

After you have taken this honest look what are you motivated to do? Tell the world! If you are not motivated to tell others of Christ then you have lost track of:

Who He is

What He has done

Desire (v. 6-8)

As David contemplates his salvation and blessing from the Lord he grows in his understanding of who God is and what He is like. He begins to understand what God actually desires. In David’s words God has given him an “open ear”.

What God doesn’t want:

God does not delight in sacrifice and offering

God does not require burnt offerings and sin offerings

Doesn’t the law of Moses teach the exact opposite of this? David has realized that if you think that a dead goat all that God wants you have missed the point.

Why did God allow Adam and Eve to sin? Why does He give anyone the choice to sin? Wouldn’t the world be a better place if God intervened before every sin?

What David understands is that more than automated obedience God want your heart.

God doesn’t want a world full of people self-righteously trying to save themselves.

What God does want:

He wants repentant sinners

He wants heart turned toward Him.

He wants His Word written on our hearts. Which is exactly what He promised Israel He would do when He returns.

Israel would often get fed up with what they though God wanted from them.

Micah 6:6–8 ““With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

If you think that dead animals is what God wants you have missed the point. God wants your heart.

Mission (v. 9-10)

As David more clearly sees the heart of God he realizes that he has to tell people.

So as a recipient of salvation and blessing from the Lord David realizes that he also has a mission from the Lord.

Gratitude in Terrible Times

Resolute (v. 11)

David now shifts from talking about what he has done in declaring God’s salvation to the people of Israel to what he knows God will do in the coming hard times.

Do you ever have to give yourself a pep talk?

I kind of feel like that is what David is doing here in the form of a prayer.

“As for you, O Lord, You will not restrain your mercy from me.”

Fundamentally God does not withhold mercy from those that are His.

As I have said before, I believe, that God’s forgiveness is given freely but also eagerly.

He wants to forgive. He wants to extend mercy.

God’s mercy is not just a bucket of candy that He occasionally lets us take from. Mercy is a foundational part of His character. He is a merciful God.

And as David reminds himself of this fact by stating back to God that which he knows to be true so to do we need to do the same. “O Lord, you will not cease to extend your mercy and grace. You will never leave me nor forsake me.”

“Your stedfast love and Your faithfulness will ever preserve me!”

We again need to pray like David here.

“O Lord, Your loyal loving-kindness and your perfect consistency is what keeps me going in life.”

Surrounded (v. 12)

In v.12 we find out why David gave himself the pep talk in v. 11.

“For evils have encompassed me beyond number.”

We don’t really know who or what these evils are, but based on v. 13,14 it seems to be enemies that have come against David.

“My iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head, my heart fails me”

David in a moment of honest evaluation realizes that his own iniquities are at least partially to blame for his trouble.

When I was in Kenya I learned that they had a phrase that they tell to young people when they are about to get married. They tell them “you chose your own trouble.”

How often are we our own worst enemy? We do not know the historical background of this Psalm, but David’s life is an example of even when we are surrounded by enemies at least in part we chose our own trouble. David was betrayed by Absalom but he was not so naive to think that he played no part in the events that led up to that betrayal.

Request (v. 13-15)

A prayer of deliverance v. 13 - David once again needs the saving hand of God to pull him out of the pit.

David prays for a God-given victory over those who take pleasure in watching him suffer.

That is what the “aha aha” of v. 15 is refers to.

These are not just normal enemies. They sadistic.

We can certainly pray with David that God would bring the evil around us to an end. The best way that we can pray this way is to pray for the soon return of Christ.

Rejoice (v. 16-17)

David doesn’t end this Psalm with a prayer of suffering rather it ends with a word of praise.

Those who know the Lord:

Rejoice and be glad in the Lord

Love the salvation from the Lord and say Great is the Lord!

A final word about his own state

“I am poor and needy”

But: “the Lord takes thought for me”

Even in the midst of this terrible time David finds reason to be thankful.

“You are my help”

“You are my deliverer”

“Don’t delay!”