Pastor Ronald Bernier
Master Builders Church
It is easy to get discouraged or take things in our own hands when in a tough place. Psalm 40 begins describing one of those difficult, horrible pits of life. Yet, in the midst of it the Psalmist waits patiently for the Lord. It is in this time that the Lord hears his cry and answers his prayer. Not only did the Lord remove his feet from stumbling and sinking, He established firm footing and changed a cry of anguish to a declaration of praise.
“Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, and does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are your wonderful works which You have done; and your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” Psalm 40:4-5
It seems we are, most of the time, more bent on complaining of our present condition than we are in rejoicing in God’s gracious, benevolent, on-going care in our lives. We seem to forget all His benefits. We have a hard time looking back and acknowledging all His gracious works that have been done on our behalf. We can’t even imagine what His thoughts and actions have been in the sum total of our life experience to get us to the present moment. Even if we attempted to put all this in some ordered time line, we would fail for we have not fully realized all the times that the Lord has intervened in guiding and protecting our lives.
Part of the problem is that we fail to practice thanksgiving, to look up with gratefulness for what we do have, for how we have been protected, for how we have been provided for, instead of what is lacking at the moment. If we would change our focus from us to the Lord, we would understand what the Psalmist said about the fact that the Lord did not desire sacrifice and offering. Rather, that we delight to do His will, that His law is written within our hearts. May we reflect and give the Lord thanks for His works and thought toward us. They are more than we can even imagine or number.