Muck and Mire

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtVBSEpvXAM

 

I’ve been listening to this song, and one line in particular has been on my heart. It comes from Psalms 40:2 “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the miry clay; he set my feet upon a rock, steadying my footsteps and establishing my path”.

 

I feel like this week at service we started off in the sludge. Pastor Kelly in her wisdom and experience seen that, and magnificently started to shepherd us back on path. The Holy Spirit was truly working through her. Like a heat seeking missle, called out the needs of the church and prayed through them. Guided us to shake off the funk and praise God and invest in the word he had to share with us. If we just come to consume and not put anything into our relationship with God and not invest in the message he’s bringing us, then we’re lacking. We’re not getting out of what he has for us. This week we were taken from the miry clay, we were pulled from the slimy pit of ourselves, he put us on a rock and set us on the right path. AMEN and AMEN! Shout out to our Pastor on doing such a great job! We are blessed to have her guiding us. (on a side note, the word “Pastor” wasn’t used as a reference until like the 1700’s or something like that. Pastors and priests in much earlier times were referred to as shepherds)

 

I know before coming to SCC I went through a season of sitting in the slimy pit. I became complacent and was just going through the motions. I wasn’t connected. I wasn’t pursing God. I wasn’t invested in the word and reading it daily. I wasn’t participating in service. I tried serving on the welcome team at APC but it was just going through the motions again. I knew I needed to get back to pursuing God. I made up my mind I was going to stop putting off visiting Pastor Kelly and Pastor Ben and go visit. The week I made that decision I felt God telling me to hold on. Pastor Jeff was preaching at SCC and I didn’t want it to be just more of what I was experiencing at APC. So I waited till the following week. I was super excited to see my friends again. It’s been too long since I seen them too. When I arrived at SCC, no doubt, God was with me. I could feel the Holy Spirit renewing my soul. I could feel him working on me. I was greeted by a few familiar faces, and a few unfamiliar. But each person I encountered I felt the sense of community with them. Terry, who I served with said hello and expressed his joy in seeing me, Bryan who I never met before shook my hand and gave me complements on my Steelers gear. And everywhere I turned I was just simply welcomed. I sat down and felt like I was home. God pulled me from the slimy pit I was in. out of the miry clay, out of the funk I was in. Sunday was another reminder that God delivered me from that and so much worse. He’s always there and always pursing me.

 

Jesus, lover of my soul, my savior, my closest friend, I’m sorry I took my eyes off of you and let myself slip into a complacent state. Thank you for delivering me from that place. Just as we all experience the moments of our lives like Peter did when he stepped off the boat, you’re always there to pull us up. Be it unsteady waters, storms, slimy pits, self-inflicted wounds, selfishness, sin, or whatever the case, you’re there, reminding us you paid the price, and set us back on our path.

 

In addition to that, the song reminded me that we too came from clay. We’re the miry clay. There’s topsoil and the organic layers of the earth that sustain life. The subsoil helps support that. Below that is the clay, and below the useless layer of clay, is the bedrock which holds it all in place. The clay layer doesn’t serve much purpose. On its own it’s nothing. God took us from that nothingness and breathed life into us. Took nothing and made each of us in a special way. If you take the clay and mold it, it can be made to be a vessel used for many things. It has to be formed, molded, bent in ways it wasn’t supposed to, folded over and over and formed into something of use. It takes care, put through a furnace, and time to develop the clay into something of use. So no matter what we go through, what fire, what pressure, we must remain flexible and allow God to form us into what he wants us to be. Isaiah 64:8 says, “you are my Father, we are the clay, and You our Potter, and we all are the work of Your hand.”. We need to remember that when we’re broken, we’re God’s blank slate, the miry clay, the blank canvas that God creates a masterpiece from. 2 Corinthians 12:9 the Lord said My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Know that in our weakness, in our brokenness, God’s grace, his love, his power, is made perfect in that moment. He’s there for US! Always pursing, always loving and always there. We are blessed!