July 4
Right-side Up
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. ––Psalm 40:1-2
Picture yourself in the desert, walking along a sandy gully. Up ahead you spot something shimmering in the sand. It’s a desert tortoise, and it’s laying on its back, legs struggling, unable to flip itself right-side up. Of course, your first impulse is to help the tortoise, turn it over, and send it on its way.
I think that’s how God views us sometimes: creatures that have wandered into ditches and landed on our backs. David described it vividly in Psalm 40 above.
Some scholars believe David wrote this psalm while the Kingdom was under threat from the Philistines. Though it’s difficult to know for certain whether David wrote it in response to a single, specific situation, we do know that at many times in his life David found himself in a pit (oftentimes of his own making, such as with Uriah and Bathsheba, and other times in situations out of his control, such as Saul’s death-rage against him). No matter why David wrote It, I think we can all agree that David landed himself in holes a lot.
When you are flat on your back, what’s your first impulse? Mine is to try to pull myself out on my own. Then I get impatient if either a) I can’t fix it immediately, or b) God doesn’t come to my rescue right away. Look at the first line of Psalm 40, because that’s our answer when we land on our backs.
So what does it mean to wait patiently for the Lord when we are in a pit we can’t get out of? And to clarify, patience here isn’t just a chronological factor—it’s a heart issue. When we get stuck, do we first turn to God, or save Him as a last resort? Whether it takes years for God to bring closure to something you are struggling with (which it will sometimes), or whether He answers immediately, our responsibility is the same: to wait on Him. In Hebrew, the form of “wait” here is qavah, which means more than just passively passing time. Its root is related to the twisting or weaving of strands to form a rope. Biblically, it implies an active, eager anticipation and the act of binding your life to God’s strength.[1] So in the waiting, we are actively drawing ourselves closer to Him in thought and deed.,
David was anything but passive in His faith. He sought the Lord, chased the Lord, bound his life to Him. The next time you find yourself flat on your back struggling to right yourself, look up. He’s there, and He’s ready to lift you out of the miry clay.
Lord, oftentimes when I am in trouble, I impatiently try for the quick fix. Help me bind my life to You, and to turn to You immediately when I encounter a hard situation.
[1] The Bible Project, 11/27/2022, https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1516136762238446