The Increase All-Star Devotionalنموونە

LANCE BERKMAN

A NEW SONG

I’ve been blessed with a really great life in baseball. I played in my hometown of Houston for most of my MLB career. I enjoyed success as an Astro, and relished the life I was building with my wife and children in southern Texas.

But then I was traded to the Yankees.

When that happened, it disrupted not only my professional life but my personal life too. I struggled as a New York Yankee—so much so that they declined to renew my contract once the season was over. To be honest, I thought my days in baseball were finished. These were some dark days.

Have you ever been at a low point like that? It seems like, despite our best efforts, we just can’t seem to climb out of the pit that we find ourselves in. Faithful men and women all throughout Scripture often found themselves walking through seasons of what feels like swimming in mud.

But the good news is this—when you find yourself in a pit, you’re following a long line of people who have been there before you.

In this Psalm 40, David paints a picture of a person (himself) who is waiting at the bottom of the pit for someone to reach down and lift him out. The arm that extends to him is God’s arm. And He doesn’t just help David out of the pit. He picks him up and sets him on a new and firm foundation.

But as good as that sounds, God doesn’t leave him there.

He gives David a new song to sing. And it’s not just a new series of musical notes, but it’s a new LIFE. His new life involves telling the story of being rescued by none other than God Himself. And why does God give David this new song to sing, this new story to live out?

So the world will see David, and fear God, and then subsequently put their trust in the Lord.

In my life, I’ve been picked up out of the pit during a few separate and distinct seasons, and I tell about these seasons in my video story at theincrease.org. I’d love for you to visit the site and check out the story I’m living, and the new song I’m singing.

So the world will see and fear, and trust God as a result.