The Slimy Pit

The Holy Spirit spoke beautifully through David, causing him to record his own experiences and at the same time, express truths that went beyond the experience he was trying to describe.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave Me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in My mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. (Psalm 40:2-3).

Or, as the Hebrew has it, “out of the horrible pit, out of the boiling mud, out of the place of desolation and death.”

Psalm 40 is like an autobiography of the Lord Jesus¹. In it, Jesus tells us why He came to earth, what He accomplished, and how He was sustained.

It also tells us what death would mean for Jesus. It would mean a horrible pit.

In a sense, every experience that threatens life is a horrible pit. Bitterness, shame and sorrow, hate and greed and loneliness, are like storm clouds threatening to break over us and toss us into the mud.

That is what our Lord was experiencing for each of us in His own body on the cross. Jesus understands these dark clouds and desolate pits because He has been through them Himself. Ultimately He was led, just as we will be led, to that moment when life reaches the crossroads and death opens its gates.

But, Jesus says, the Lord lifted Him out of the pit and set His feet upon a rock. God made His feet secure.

These words are a beautiful description of the resurrection.

None of us has ever been resurrected. And, there is a great difference between what happened to Lazarus and what happened to Jesus. Lazarus was restored to this perishable life. But Jesus was resurrected to an imperishable life.

He was the firstborn from the dead.

At His resurrection, Jesus stepped into a whole new mode of being. A whole new creation. It is a creation that God had designed from the beginning – not only for His Son but also for us.

And with that new creation came a new song from the mouth of Jesus. No longer do we sing of despair, or decay, or bitterness, or shame or sorrow.

Before the resurrection, we could only sing in hope. Now, we sing a song of praise and thanksgiving for what has been done.

…the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me (Luke 7:22-23)

In the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has given us a new song. It is a resurrection hymn of praise. It now sets the tone and rhythm of our lives, and it is ours to sing.

¹ See also Hebrews 10:5 where Psalm 40 is quoted and applied to Christ.