In Psalm 40, David says of God, ‘He took me out of the miry clay and put my feet upon a rock!’ The miry clay is a picture of something, it represents a horrible place, but a timeless reminder of what to do when you get your feet stuck. While hopeless for the unbelieving, it holds a truth that there is great hope for all who call upon the name of the Lord by faith. Hear the lessons from the miry clay. It’s a place of waiting, but with expectation. There’s an expectancy that God will deliver. It is a place God uses to bring about patience, but with it the ability to endure because God is faithful and He sits in the place of confident victory. David says in that place, “He inclined to me.” Do you recognize that place holds the inclinations of God’s heart. If you go on to read, it continues by saying, “many are your thoughts to me and too vast to number.” He inclines himself toward us by making that place abundant with his thoughts to lead, to guide, to encourage, to strengthen, to rise above, and to make our footsteps firm. The picture here is one producing a place of foundation out onto a rock. The land longs for foundation, for when the foundations are shaken and men no more live by the principles of God’s word, things begin to crumble, and so goes the evolution of societies that failed to recognize God as Almighty! But God has a foundation for those who cry out to him there in that horrible stuck place–it’s a place on the Rock, and it’s a place of comforting refuge! The miry clay represents a place of melody and song because David says out of that place, “He has put a new song in my heart a song of praise to our God”. It is the sound of praise and singing that establishes us as victors and not victims. It will be a song that will call many to worship His name because of the testimony that the clay produces for the believing. It’s a super-natural place of Divine influence with a power able to raise us up because of Jesus Who says, ‘because I live, so shall you’. Verse 4 of that same chapter says, “How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust”.
Tag: leadership
The Safe Place of Prayer
Psalm 61:1-4
O God, listen to my cry!Hear my prayer!
From the ends of the earth,I cry to you for helpwhen my heart is overwhelmed.Lead me to the towering rock of safety,
for you are my safe refuge,a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.
Let me live forever in your sanctuary,safe beneath the shelter of your wings!
…In the place of overwhelming difficulty We have this word as an anchor to remind us we can be lead to a place the enemy cannot reach! Our cries are the place of heavenly access… We like David, may feel a long way off from that safety, but it’s placed within our reach when we pray!
The Work of God in Prayer
Recently in prayer, I began to understand the source of my frustration with others. In my discovery, I realized how I had waited on men and not waited on God. I had waited on men to be my help; I had waited for men to have the answer. I was waiting on men for my next move. It was hindering my progress slowing me down and making me angry. I saw my failure to wait on God was causing me to miss His move and with it, His great provision. Bottom line, it was the fear of man and not the fear of God. I began seeing where the fear of man ensnared me and left me without a Godly mandate to move forward. That fear of men kept me from confronting my problems and issues with others. It left me without a voice that could speak as God to inspire true leadership that moves to victory. I did a lot of preaching at the problem, but was distant from confronting it head on with real solutions born out of relationship. The people were not my problem, but failure to wait on God was. Could it be God is calling you to a ‘relationship of waiting on Him’? In your frustations, your failure to wait is a failure to get a word from Him to speak directly with divine wisdom into the lives of others. You like me need to see the work of God in prayer. It is a work that reveals willingness to wait on God bringing rest from other men’s agendas. In prayer, the Spirit of God will cause you to find a ‘fresh wind’ to fill your sails and propel you forward to victory.
GraceLife 