Morning Message Text: Psalm 40: 1-11
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 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.
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORDand put their trust in him.
4 Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.
5 Many, LORD my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.
6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— but my ears you have opened — burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.
7 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll.
8 I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”
9 I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, LORD, as you know.
10 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.
11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, LORD; may your love and faithfulness always protect me.
Morning Message
The message that God has put upon my heart is a familiar one. If you have listened to me preach over the past 18 years you will recognize this reoccurring theme. Love and obedience, when it comes to worshiping and serving God, in my opinion, you can’t have one without the other. To claim that you love God and at the same time resist or outright disobey his commands and teachings is hypocrisy. My favorite scripture, as most of you know by now, is John 21: 15-21. This is a poignant moment in Peter’s life when he met Jesus by the Sea of Galilee after His resurrection. Peter had denied Jesus three times before the crucifixion, even denied ever knowing him. In this meeting in Galilee, Jesus needed to know whether Peter’s heart had changed. Three times Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” And each time Peter confessed his love for Jesus. The Lord gave him a command; “Feed My lambs…. tend My sheep…. feed My sheep.” Jesus’ words illustrate a theme that runs throughout scripture: Love is demonstrated by actions. More specifically, when it comes to God and man, love for God is demonstrated by man’s obedience to God’s commands. And such obedience is rewarded by blessing. Here is a question for all of us: Do you ever question why your blessings seem so small? How is your obedience?
Let’s examine our scripture for today. “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.” How patient are you? To wait patiently for God is to display a confident trust that God will move in your life. We are commanded over and over again to have faith and trust, but we find it difficult to wait for God to move. Why do we struggle with this? I don’t know what God has brought you through in your life, but as for me, I can’t even count the number of times that God has pulled me out of the mud and the mire, dusted me off, and refocused my life. But I, like you, still find myself impatient and not willing to wait on the Lord. We ask ourselves why we are not hearing from God. I had this saying come across my phone this week: “It’s hard to hear God’s voice when you’ve already decided what you want him to say.” I think that’s one of the most truthful statements that I have ever read. Are we waiting for God to give us what He wants us to have, or are we waiting for God to say what we want to hear and have already decided on?
If we stop for just a moment and think about the many blessings that we have received, we would be full of praise and thankfulness to God, but instead of trusting and obeying because of the wonders of the blessings we have received, we find ourselves always questioning why we don’t have more. You will say to me, “I don’t doubt God or question my blessings.” But I would contend that we all do. How do I know this? Because all of us talk about our complaints but seldom mention our blessings. We tend to think legalistically; we think that in order to please God and be blessed that we are required to make great sacrifices or give great offerings, but this text clearly tells us that God judges by what’s in our hearts. Giving and sacrifice are both good disciplines, but they must be done out of an obedient and pure heart. If you know Jesus, God’s law is written on your heart.
Now pay attention to the next verses. “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.” When I think of love and obedience to God this is what I see as the appropriate action that we, as Christians do to little of. We keep God’s righteousness in our hearts and don’t allow others to see it. We fail to speak of God’s faithfulness that he has clearly shown in our lives. Even here, in church, in the great assembly, we conceal God’s love and faithfulness in our failure to proclaim him, even to each other. In Luke chapter 6 verse 46 we hear these words from Jesus, “But why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say?” Jesus was speaking to a large crowd, and I believe that he is speaking to us today. In that crowd were people who were seeking his blessing but had not reckoned the cost. Love is demonstrated by actions. If you confess Jesus as Lord, don’t take lightly the responsibility to obey his words. There is a warning in this quote from Oswald Chambers, an early twentieth-century Scottish evangelist and teacher, “Beware of reasoning about God’s Word—obey it.”
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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