Pulled to Safety

Psalm 40 begins, I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. Psalm 40 is about a man in trouble.

Somehow through an unfortunate event he finds himself in a bottleneck prison. In Bible times a hole in the ground would be dug out in the shape of a bottle wide at the bottom and narrow at the top making it impossible to escape from. Often these man-made pits were used to imprison a man like the brothers of Joseph through him in a pit before selling him into slavery.

Well David finds himself in one of these bottleneck prisons and he has been in there for some time now. The earthen floor of this pit is sopping wet. It's slippery with mud from rainwater.

Every time he tries to stand up he slips and down he goes again. It appears to be utterly hopeless situation where he cannot extricate himself from it. He needs help from above, help from man and help from God.

Our text says he brought me up but the Hebrew word for up is the word Allah and it means to bring up, carry up, fetch up, to lift, to ascend, to go up. It is the imagery of an intervention of help that comes from above. This man needs help from above where someone passes by and hears his shouts of help and he comes by and soon drops down a rope which the man in the pit wraps around his waist and with his arms he desperately clings on to it as he is pulled up and out to safety.

The main message of Psalm 40 is that God is a deliverer. The secondary message is when we find ourselves in such a trial and trouble we must exercise faith and patience while we wait upon our God, stand upon his promises and hope in his mercy. Psalm 40 is David's testimony to his confidence in God in all times.

After David's release from his difficulties he gets so wound up he gets his harp and pen out as he soars to heights praising his God. Many, O Lord my God, are the wonderful works which thou hast done, he exclaims in verse 5. But this imagery of a man in a pit that he cannot extricate himself from reminds me of a story which Dr. Stephen Olford once shared with me. I'll share it with you friends.

Born in Africa to missionary parents, Stephen Olford grew up in the African bush in a humble little cottage. It was Christmas and young Stephen decided to sneak out of the cottage early that morning to go bag a wild goose for Christmas dinner. Before daylight he left his parents home quietly so not to awaken them.

Into the darkness he walked with his rifle beneath his arm. Making his way to the gate he unlatched it but it made a squeak. He kept going into the dark bush to a distant field where he knew wild geese would be.

Slowly he moved in the darkness but unfortunately his next step landed him in a treacherous bog of mire. There he was in quicksand sinking in that miry bog as he held his rifle above his head with one hand while frantically trying to extricate himself with the other. He realized he was in grave danger and sinking to his death but unknown to him the native servant of his father's house was awakened by the squeak of the gate and this African had followed him.

In the darkness without his knowledge there stood the African as the morning sun began to break over the field. He was attired in a colorful robe of silk which was wrapped around his naked body. Quickly the native began to unfold his cloak about him.

It unfolded into one long piece of material and as he unfolded it he reached the garment over to the desperate Stephen Oldford. Stephen grabbed it and hung on for dear life as he was pulled to safety. Well Dr. Oldford would relate that this action of the African was like the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus stepped out of the glories of heaven to come to earth to save lost man who was sunk in the mire of sin and in his great mercy he unfolded his royal robe of righteousness and reached it out to us to grab hold of. Jesus saves his people from their sins. Once we acknowledge that that we are sinners lost and without God in the world we then see our great need of a savior from sin.

Jesus is the only remedy in refuge for sin. Jesus declared I am the way the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

Here Jesus answers the three greatest questions of the human heart friend. How can I be saved? Jesus said I am the way. How can I be sure? Jesus said I am the truth.

How can I be satisfied? Jesus said I am the life. God declares the soul that sinneth it shall die. Jesus declares I am the life.

Get to Christ friend and believe on him and own him as your Savior and Lord.