Miry Clay

Every time I read the following verse, I hear in my head an old hymn we used to sing in the Nazarene church:

"He brought me out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm." (Psalm 40:2)

If you didn't hear the tune in your head, that's okay...that's not the point of this post. Here's what hit me yesterday, given my recent distress over how Christians treat each other (See "I Choose Joy..."):

We've ALL come out of the same filthy, miry clay!

An alternate translation in my New American Standard Bible is "mud of the mire". If you're like most people, you haven't enjoyed playing in mud since you were five. The problem with that is that it seems to me we're forgetting exactly where we all were lifted out of.

Now, admittedly, some of us barely had our toes covered and some of us were sinking in up to our eyeballs and going down after the last breath when He grabbed us out of it. But in my limited, finite brain, I don't think it matters how far you were buried in the filth and slop...the point is, you had the opportunity to get just as dirty as the rest of us.

James says that if we're not doers of the word, we're just like the man that looks at himself in the mirror, goes away, and then immediately forgets who he was. (see James 1:23-25) Now that I've spent more time in God's Kingdom than out of it, I confess...it often feels like someone else lived that life so long ago.

Satan used to try to trip my up with guilt over my past and when I started thanking God instead for where He'd brought me from, the guilt and memories no longer had any power over me. I even prayed, "Never let me forget where I have come from!" 

It does get more difficult over time to remember how deep in the muddy mire I was stuck and it's far too easy to snap to judgment when others are still stuck in it. So here's what I did yesterday...I made a little mud just off my patio...stuck my foot in it...and took the photo above. I pray God's Spirit uses this to remind me that this side of Heaven, I'm never really going to escape the filth. Yes, I stand before Him a new creation and He doesn't hold my sins (past, present or future) against me any more! But I won't be perfect until I see Him face-to-face. And when I'm tempted to lose patience with, harshly judge or condemn and criticize others...I need to remember my dirty feet.

My dirty feet are the only ones I'm supposed to be looking at. Instead of judging others, but remembering that if it were not for Him...the One who cleanses me with His own blood...I would be going down for the last time too...and that He sets me on the solid rock of His Love...what does that do? King David expressed it best:

"He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God." (Psalm 40:3)

Lord, words cannot express my thankfulness for You picking me up out of the mud, muck and mire and setting me on the solid rock of Your Love. May my praise and love for You be always on my tongue and my heart be overflowing with gratitude. Help me focus on my mud alone. I don't need to start flinging anyone else's mud at them...I have enough of my own.