August 22 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading:

Psalm 40

¹I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
²He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
³And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.
⁴Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
⁵Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
⁶Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
⁷Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
⁸I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
⁹I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.
¹⁰I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
¹¹Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
¹²For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.
¹³Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
¹⁴Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
¹⁵Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.
¹⁶Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.
¹⁷But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

Devotional:

David says he waited for God and God heard and established him, putting a new song in his mouth. This is a refrain we read often in Scripture and experience often in life. We pray. God does not answer immediately. He allows us to learn the lessons of trust. He allows us to learn lessons in persistent prayer. God makes us wait.

David expresses gratefulness to God in this Psalm. He has experienced God's faithfulness in the past and is emboldened to make more importunate requests. 'O Lord, make haste to help me' (40:13). 'Make no tarrying, O my God' (40:17). But God allowed him to wait and experience the strengthening of his faith before receiving his answer.

What a common trait is impatience! As parents we can have a lot to do with either nourishing or rooting out this weed in our children. The parent who regularly gives way to the compulsion to pick up baby at the first cry or to open the refrigerator at the first plea for a drink of milk is surely fostering impatience! The parent who follows a reasonable schedule in the household, a schedule which attempts to take into consideration the needs of all its members, is teaching the child to adapt himself to the world in which he will be living, and to discipline himself to wait! This principle holds true particularly in regard to the gratification of physical desires. Is it unreasonable to consider the possibility that the child who has been used to having every physical desire met promptly as a direct consequence may have to struggle the harder as a youth or adult with this same problem? Is it unreasonable to consider that this may apply also to sex? As parents we have a responsibility to help, not hinder, the development of self-control in our children.

When we teach our children to wait patiently for us and for others we are really giving them a lesson in self-control, in consideration for others, and in waiting on the Lord! A difficult lesson this is to learn, but perhaps a more difficult one for us to teach! There is a plaque which reads, 'Lord, give me patience. And give it to me right now.' We smile at this because it speaks to us where we are.