The New Room is sharing a Friday reflection each week. We hope that these short reflections will act as a point of spiritual focus, enabling a moment of quiet thought and prayer.
Today’s Friday reflection is the final one of the series. Today we hear from David Worthington who has been the Director of John Wesley’s New Room since 2006. In this reflection David shares his thoughts on the first three verses of Psalm 40; faith persevering in trial.
Psalm 40 – Faith Persevering in Trial
1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth—
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the Lord.
As we slowly emerge from the pandemic, I’m sure that many of us, over the last 18 months, have reflected on what’s happened, why it’s happened and what we are to learn from this experience. Our lives have been impacted in ways that have troubled and disturbed us and we’ve cried for a return to our ‘old’ lives and a sense of certainty. However, we have had to be patient and learn ‘new’ ways of living that have challenged and changed us.
David, as the psalmist, reassures us that God hears our cries and will bring us ‘out of the miry clay’. However, God doesn’t just bring us out of the pit, he then sets our feet upon a rock; a firm foundation on which to build our faith. We do not know what direction our path in life will take other than, as disciples of Jesus Christ, we are seeking to deepen and strengthen our faith through our trust and obedience to Him. It is this faith that puts a ‘new song’ our mouths and offer praise to God.
David tells us that others will see and fear this new song and so we pray for those whose spirituality has been reawakened by the pandemic; that we may respond and offer them the new hope of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. I pray that our ‘new normal’ will be our ‘new song’ of faith that has persevered in trial and emerged with new trust and new hope in Him.
A Prayer
Lord, we thank you for your love for each one of us and your attentiveness to our cries. We thank you for bringing us out of this ‘horrible pit’ and for the developments in medical science that enabled this to happen. We pray that our faith will always be set upon a rock and that we will forever sing a new song of praise to you for the blessings that you’ve poured out on us. We pray this through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen.