Pearls of the Kingdom 2/15/2023
Remember our passage from last week as I have a sense that there is more for us to consider before moving on.
Ps 40:1-3 “I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the LORD.”
I sense the Holy Spirit say, “Are you stuck in the mud? Jesus can help with that.”
Can I start with a story? The story goes of a man who fell into a deep pit. Unable to climb out on his own, the man cried out for help. If someone could just hear his cry for help and give him a hand and lift him up and out of the pit. One by one people walked by and stopped. Not offering the man any help out, but they did offer their “words of wisdom.”
“You need to pray more”
“You need more faith”
“You just need to fast”
“You must be in sin or you wouldn’t be in this pit”
“You just need to confess your sin”
“Are you blind, didn’t you see the pit”
“I feel sorry for you, but I can’t help you, I will be late for my meeting”
“I’ll pray for you, that God will send someone to help you”
The man was overwhelmed with hopelessness until Jesus came by. Jesus did not question the man. Jesus didn’t ask the man how he ended up in the pit. Jesus didn’t have a 3- point sermon for the man. Jesus didn’t quote any scriptures. Jesus being moved with compassion bent down and offered the man a hand up and out of the pit.
Back to my thought, “Are you stuck in the mud? Jesus can help with that.”
I have this sense that the mud speaks to the different areas in life that you and I struggle with. Some areas where one can struggle, get “stuck in the mud":
Stuck in sin
Stuck in anger
Stuck in un-forgiveness
Stuck in an addiction
Stuck in shame or guilt
Stuck in failure or disappointment
Stuck in depression
Stuck in “fill in the blank” ________________________
These are areas that we struggle to break free from. They hold us down, like being stuck in the mud at the bottom of the pit. Oh, we have tried to break free, climb out but it seems we just slide back down again, into the mud. You find yourself feeling hopeless.
I want to encourage you today my friend, there is no situation that is hopeless for Jesus. There is no pit so dark where Jesus can’t find you. No pit so deep where Jesus can’t hear your cry for help. Jesus never gives up on you. He is not disappointed with you. Your life is not a mess but His masterpiece. You’re not so stuck, where His mercy can’t lift you up. Nothing you have done can separate you from the love of God. Nothing is too difficult for Him. His saving arm is stronger than your strongest adversary. His love never ends, He is Full of Grace, His Mercies endure forever, Great is His Faithfulness, His Compassions never fail.
Ps 18:16-17 “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.”
Isa 59:1 “Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.”
Col 2:13-15 “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Be sure to tell others your story of the day that Jesus rescued you from the muddy pit, your story will encourage them with hope.