When God Restores Us 1: He Drew me up from the Pit

This podcast is brought to you by Walnut Grove Lutheran Church in Langley, D.C., in the hope that it will draw you closer to the one who loves you most.

So years ago, before I went back to school to prepare to become a pastor, my wife and I had a ag business selling fuel and fertilizer to farmers and small commercial businessmen.

And we had all the advantages of owning your own business.

We drew a salary from the company, one of our vehicles, all the expenses were paid for it by the company.

The business bought a 4-H calf each June for advertising, which ended up in our deep freeze.

And we wrote all the things off that were appropriate for us to write off.

And yet, on the personal side of things, I found it a great struggle to manage our personal finances.

It was a challenge to make sure all the bills got paid.

And it was as if we were living from month to month.

So then God made it clear to me that He didn't want me to be an SO agent, he wanted me to become a pastor.

So I began the process of going to school.

And that took six years.

And during that time, neither Susan nor I had a steady job.

And yet all the bills got paid, all the vehicles got maintained, all the kids got fed and clothed.

We had some of the best Christmases we ever had in our lives.

And the personal finance side of things was completely looked after.

Now, that was an amazing learning experience for me.

And the only thing I can conclude from that experience was that God's math is different than ours.

And that applies even to finances.

So fast forward a few years, and uh one of our children, Morgan, comes to us, and at this moment we're living in Saskatchewan, but we know we're moving to Langley.

And there's a university in Langley called Trinity Western University.

Any of you familiar with it?

Morgan comes to Susan and I, and he says, you know, mom and dad, I watched while you were going to school when dad was called into the ministry by God, and I saw how God looked after all of the finances for you.

And I believe that God is calling me to go to Trinity Western University.

And I believe that he is going to look after all of the finances for me as well, just like he did for you.

And I remember distinctly sucking in my breath at that moment.

Because I was not so sure.

Not as sure as Morgan was, anyway.

But guess what?

God came through again, and everything worked out regarding uh finances and Morgan going to school.

Now that's two stories of rescue by God that I've shared with you.

And there's been many, many, many, many, many more in my life.

So you would think, you would think that my faith in God would be rock solid now, because I've experienced his faithfulness and his rescue, his ability to meet any challenge and pull me through it.

I should have unshakable confidence in God, right?

But that's not how things are going for me.

That's not what's happened for me in the past.

Because you see, I'm a frail and flawed human being.

And other challenges have come in my life since those two I shared with you.

There's been health challenges, financial challenges, relational conflicts, and the prolonged illness and death of a parent.

And every time, every time, I felt overwhelmed and alone.

As if I was in a deep dark pit with no way up.

The challenge of trusting God for whatever we need in life seems to, at least in my case, and maybe it happens in yours, it seems to start afresh with every new problem that we face.

We may have had several experiences of God's love, faithfulness, and rescue in the past.

But whenever we face a crisis in this present moment, we wonder, will God rescue me this time?

And our hearts fill with fear over the possibility that he might not.

There has to be a better way for us to live.

And so the question that I'm setting before you today is this how can we live with more confident faith in God?

And I should get the clicker.

This is my job.

I should uh I should be doing this.

I'm obviously slipping up here, but watch this.

There it is.

There's the question.

How do we live with a more confident faith in God?

And as we think about that question, and we're kicking off a new series called When God Restores Us, let's dig into Psalm 40 for God's answer.

So if you have a Bible or a Bible app nearby, I invite you to turn to that passage in the Bible.

Now, as we open this psalm, we'll see in the heading that this is another Psalm of David.

And there's nothing in the Psalm to indicate a connection with a specific event in David's life, but there are hints that he is already the king of Israel.

So, for example, in verse 7, a scroll is mentioned, and this could be referring to the personal copy of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, that the king was required to keep and read and internalize.

And then in verse 9, the author mentions playing a leading role in worship, and this was something that David did do as king.

And the probability that David was king when he wrote Psalm 40 is significant for us.

Us modern folk tend to think that if we just have enough power, wealth, or beauty, that will protect us from calamity.

But here in Psalm 40, we see that you could be the richest, most powerful, and best-looking person in the land.

David was all those things.

And troubles will still come upon you in this life.

But note how David deals with the challenge he is facing.

First, he reflects on the times in the past when God rescued him.

Whoops.

He writes, I waited patiently for the Lord.

He turned to me and heard my cry.

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.

David is remembering a time in the past, maybe several times in the past, when he was totally helpless and in a pit which should have destroyed him.

And yet God faithfully lifted him out of that pit and then set him on solid ground.

And the result of that rescue?

David tells us.

He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.

David sang a song of praise to God, a new song that God had given to him.

Others witnessed both David's rescue by God and the result, and the tangible evidence of God's saving action in David's life caused the faith of these other people to grow.

Being rescued also caused David's faith to grow.

And he himself can see that evidence of that growth in his own life.

Though he faithfully participates in the sacrificial system God set up centuries before, David knows that making those sacrifices is not the most important thing.

They are only one outward way that David lives out the inner faith that God has given to him in his heart.

It's the alignment of David's inner desires with God's desires that are the most important.

And David is responding to God's faithful rescues of the past by conducting his life as a living sacrifice.

And Paul writes more about that in Romans 12.

David knows that he is flawed and imperfect.

He knows that he is utterly helpless to escape the muck and the mire of the pits life sends his way.

And he knows that he is totally unworthy of being rescued.

And yet, again and again, because of the faithfulness of God and God's loving kindness, David calls out to God.

Because he knows God has rescued his people throughout the centuries past, and he has rescued David in his own lifetime.

And it's the enormity of God's mercy and grace that moves David to proclaim God's faithfulness before others.

He writes, I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly.

I do not seal my lips.

Lord, as you know, I do not hide your righteousness in my heart.

I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help.

I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly.

Sometimes we are afraid to share what God has done in our lives for fear of what others might think.

Or at least I know I am.

But it's gratefulness for God's rescue that helps us to overcome any such fears in our heart, just like that gratefulness did in David's heart.

And then with verse 11, a new threat emerges.

David begins to lament.

He begins to cry out and perhaps even complain, but he does so with faith.

He writes, Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord.

May your love and faithfulness always protect me, 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.

Once again, David finds himself in a deep and dangerous pit.

But this time, it's a pit that David dug himself.

His many sins have caught up to him, and the dark weight of his guilt and shame is crushing his heart.

And yet, and yet he still cries out to God for rescue and vindication.

But as for me, I am poor and needy, he writes, may the Lord think of me.

You are my help and my deliverer.

You are my God.

Do not delay.

And here, with this part of Psalm 40, we see the key to this Psalm, and actually the key to our entire faith.

And that is this we can patiently trust in God for a rescue we need but do not deserve, not because of who we are or what we do, but because of who God is and what he does.

God is full of grace and mercy that flows from his faithful, loving kindness.

And the many times he has rescued us personally in the past provides evidence that he gives us to cause our faith to grow.

We can see that evidence of that growth in the ways that the Holy Spirit has transformed us, moving us to want the things that God wants, helping us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.

Not to try and earn our rescue, but in profound thankfulness for the rescue, the amazing rescue that we already have in Jesus.

God is totally different from the world.

And so God relates to us in a totally different way than the world does.

With God, past results do indicate future performance.

As we journey through life and begin to accumulate real-life examples of God saving us, we treasure those divine rescues in our heart.

And we practice remembering them.

So that the next time that we are stuck in a pit, we naturally say to ourselves, Remember how God rescued me in the past?

He has already demonstrated his faithful loving kindness towards me.

And he will do it again.

But the ultimate indication of God's faithful, loving kindness, and our greatest source of hope is not found in our own lives, but in the life of Jesus Christ.

The writers of Hebrews in the New Testament quotes Psalm 40, verses 6 to 8, from the Greek version of the Old Testament, and puts those words into Jesus' mouth.

Psalms 40:6–8

So imagine Jesus saying these words sacrifice an offering that you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me with burnt offerings and sin offerings.

Then I said, Here I am.

It is written about me in the scroll.

I have come to do your will, my God.

David was a flawed and imperfect human being, just like we are.

And his sin dug deep pits of destruction.

But that was not true of Jesus.

In accordance with all foretold of him in God's word, Jesus is God the Son, who miraculously came into this world and became fully human to save us and all creation.

Out of love for us and a deep desire to do his Father's will, Jesus willingly descended into a deep and terrible pit, dug by the sins of humanity.

On a cross outside Jerusalem, Jesus suffered what we deserve so that he could give us what he deserves.

Unconditional love, grace, and acceptance by his heavenly Father.

Life with God that lasts forever.

And a destiny in paradise where all of creation, including us, will be fully healed and restored.

Jesus' life, death, and resurrection are the reason we can cry out to God for rescue, even when we don't deserve it.

Especially when we don't deserve it.

Jesus' faithful, loving kindness, which has already been demonstrated to us, is the reason that we can patiently wait for God to lift us out of whatever pit we find ourselves in.

The salvation Jesus won for us, including forgiveness for all our sins, new life with God, and complete restoration to come in the future, is already yours.

And nothing can ever take it away from you.

It's Jesus' gift to you because he loves you.

Therefore, every day we sing a new song of praise to God, and we pray that the life of faith that we live may move others to also put their trust in the Lord.

So here's the challenge that I'm setting before you today to live life as a rescued person.

First of all, what does that mean?

First of all, treasure the incredible rescue that Jesus has already given to you.

Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has rescued you from sin, eternal death, and everlasting condemnation.

It's a rescue you or I do not deserve or didn't deserve or earn.

And yet Jesus gave it to you as a free gift because of his love for you.

It's yours.

Remember that ultimate rescue daily and make it the foundation of all you are and all you do.

And then, second, remember all of the smaller rescues God has given you in the past, in this life, in this world.

Like the times when you narrowly avoided a terrible disaster and you had nothing to do with the avoidance of that disaster.

Or you made a small random decision and it led to something incredibly good for you.

Or you sense God is leading you in a direction where things shouldn't work out.

They don't make sense, but they do work out.

And in God's eyes, they do make sense.

All these minor rescues are supportive evidence of God's love and mercy and grace applied to you personally.

They're gifts to you from God.

And then finally, let praise for God freely flow from your heart.

The evidence of what God is doing in your life may be exactly what someone else needs to see.

So that they too can trust in Jesus and receive the amazing free rescue that He gives.

Amen.

Let's pray.

We thank you, Jesus, for rescuing us and pulling us out of the pin of a pit sorry of uh sin, death, and everlasting condemnation.

We also thank you for all of the smaller everyday pits that you've pulled us out of and continue to do so.

Lord, we pray that you would strengthen us by your spirit and that you would help our faith to grow so that we could live with a more certain confidence in you.

We are weak and frail and flawed, but you are great and wonderful and perfect.

Help us to keep our eyes on you, Lord.

In your precious name we ask this, and all God's people said.

Amen.

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Thank you and God's blessings.