Psalm 40, a testimony

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.

This morning Psalm 40 was the selection for my Bible reading. I use the One Year Bible for my morning devotions, and it is set up to go through the Psalms twice every year. In August of 2002 I was also at Psalm 40. At that point in my life I was very depressed because of our church situation. We had lived here for 3 years and really hadn't found a church that suited us. Either there was good teaching, but, what do I say, a little "fringe". Not really fitting what we believed. Or the teaching was so shallow we felt we weren't getting fed at all. Peanut butter and jelly I called it. We had moved here from Italy from a great group Christians with whom we had good, close community, and here we really hadn't found that community. So I was really bummed.

We decided that Sunday I read Psalm 40 to visit a church that had just gotten a new pastor. I remember before the service, when we went in, someone asked me what I was looking for in a church and I said "Meat and potatoes, not peanut butter and jelly." We were not disappointed. For several weeks we were crying at the end of the preaching because our souls at last were filled. We were hungry for good preaching/teaching, and praise the Lord, this man is a faithful teacher of the Word. Week after week we look forward to his teaching both in the worship service and in the Sunday School hour. He is truly a faithful shepherd teaching with grace, gentleness and firmness.

So every time I get to Psalm 40 in my Bible reading, I remember that Sunday and that God did indeed take my feet from the miry clay/bog and put them on a rock. He put a new song in my mouth. And those of you who know me, know I love to sing!

Buona domenica! (Have a great Sunday!)