OUT OF THE PIT INTO THE WORLD
Scripture: Psalm 40:1-11
FOCUS: Life is frought with many dangers and pitfalls but God will never allow them to fully consume those who truly love and seek to serve God.
The news has been exceptionally bleak this week. The unspeakable events outside a grocery store in Arizona have touched our hearts as we have prayed for and thought about those whose lives were lost and have found hope in news of progress and healing for some of the victims. We have watched as folks in Australia have been battered by floods of epic proportion. In Brazil hundreds have lost their lives to landslides precipitated by torrential rainfall. Here in the U. S. places both unaccustomed to snow and ice and places which are frequent targets of winter’s fury have been virtually shut down by an enormous and unusually strong winter storm. People are suffering.
Here in South Alabama we have been made a bit uncomfortable by unseasonably cold temperatures, but for the most part life has gone on as usual. But that does not mean that we have not faced challenges, or that we will not face them in the future. The Psalm from which we have read this morning emanates from deep within the soul of David and reflects his awareness of the recurring struggles which mark life’s journeys for all, even for God’s chosen people, especially for God’s chosen people. No matter what the weather, life is inherently challenging. We have all fallen into pits, many of our own making, and there are surely more along the way as we journey through life.
David opens with the dreaded “p” word. While it may not bring dread to your hearts it certainly does to mine, that is because patience is one of those virtues I recognize to be of God but which I struggle, often unsuccessfully to embrace and practice. I take some solace from a discovery I made while doing research for this morning’s sermon. I discovered that the translation which would most closely reflect the meaning of the original Hebrew text is, “I waited and I waited for the Lord.” Do you see the difference? Patience is not assumed. I can think of many words which describe David, but patience is not one which comes immediately to mind. We who struggle to cultivate that illusive virtue can find some solace in the fact that we do not struggle alone.
That is not to deny that patience is a worthy virtue or that it ought to be sought by those who seek to serve our Lord. Patience is one of nine fruits of the Spirit Paul commends to the Galatian church. Still I find comfort in the notion that David was perhaps saying, not that he had waited patiently, rather that he had waited and waited, that there had been times when it seemed God was not listening. Haven’t we all had those times? I certainly have. So the message of hope I hear from David in these opening words from the Psalm is a source of comfort and affirmation, a reminder that even the great saints of the Bible faced times of trial, that even one we celebrate as a pillar of the faith had times marked by impatient waiting.
Thankfully David does not leave us hanging there. In The Message we read these words from the Psalmist, “I waited and waited and waited for God. At last God looked; finally God listened.” We not only find in David’s words a bit of frustration, we also find his affirmation that in time his waiting was rewarded. If there was ever a message we twenty-first century Americans need to hear it is this one. To we who are satiated with tools of instant gratification David says God comes, but God comes in God’s own time and we need to learn how to wait.
To we who have capitulated to advertisers who tell us that what really matters is style, fashion, and appearance, who tell us to buy a bigger house, not because we need one, but because it is fashionable, to buy a flashy car capable of going three times the highest legal speed limit, not because we need one, but because our old one is no longer in style and huge engines are cool, to we of the conspicuous consumption society, David says “Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God, who turn your backs on the world’s sure thing, who ignore what the world worships.” To we who at times get so wrapped up doing church that we fail to be the church David says “What God wants is not well choreographed services of worship with professional quality players. What God wants is us, offering ourselves in service.”
The other day I saw a clip from Conan Obrien’s show. Conan had a guest comedian on who was talking about the fact that these days everything is amazing and nobody is happy. That sort of sums up our modern American psyche. We have so much stuff, things are so convenient, yet we are never satisfied. We are privy to the most astounding forms of technology, have more convenience oriented gadgets than our grandparents would have ever thought possible yet depression is rampant and broken relationships abound. Everything is amazing, and nobody is happy. Nobody who seeks to live by the rules of the world, that is, but there is another way. There is a lifestyle which leads to true joy.
I have never been caught in quicksand, hope never to be, but I am aware that should I ever have that misfortune my reaction will be critical to my ultimate survival. Most experts agree that there are several important steps if one is to successfully escape. Stay calm. Throw off anything heavy you carry with you. Lean back and relax filling your lungs with air. Remain still. Slowly work your way toward the closest known solid ground. To those I might add, always have someone with you who carries a long, big stick.
David remembered those times when he had fallen into one of life’s proverbial pits. We are not told which pit had enveloped him. There are many along the way. We have all encountered some ourselves. There is the pit of selfishness, the pit of foolish behavior, the pit of physical brokenness, the pit of spiritual dryness. There is the pit of hopelessness and fear, the pit of pride and judgementalism, the pit of low self esteem, and so many more. While most of us will escape without ever finding ourselves mired in quicksand, all of us, like David, will fall into more than a few pits as we journey through life. How quickly we escape, perhaps even how long we will survive, will depend largely on how we react.
We can learn from those survival experts, both the ones who post tips on the internet for surviving quicksand and David, the survival expert who penned this morning’s scripture. When we find ourselves in a pit it is always a good idea to remain calm. To be certain that is easier said than done whether we are in literal quicksand or in the metaphorical mire of life’s challenges. But like David, we survive best when we wait, patiently or not as the case may be, and put our trust in the Lord, looking expectantly for the coming of God’s Spirit to guide us to the solid rock of faith.
Baggage. We all have baggage, some of us more than others. We all carry both stuff we have brought with us and junk which has been piled on us by others. Like those who slip into quicksand, we will be well served if we discard as much of our baggage as possible as we seek to allow the Spirit of God to lift us from the pit. So many times we fail to savor our days because we are consumed by either regret for the past or fear of the future. I have mentioned before the book by Jean-Pierre De Caussade which bears the title The Sacrament of the Present Moment. That little volume, which I have in my library, is actually a revision of a book written in De Caussade’s native French the title of which is best translated Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence. Both titles serve as reminders that, for our own good, it is advisable to live life in the now, to lay aside both our baggage from the past and those concerns for the future, most of which we can do little about today, in order to live fully into the present, trusting God’s providential love and grace.
When we truly begin to let go of those cares and worries about which we can do little, when we simply allow ourselves to lay back into the arms of God and to breath in deeply the fresh air of God’s Spirit, we may well find that we are beginning to free ourselves from the muck in which we have become trapped. When we relax, release our baggage and simply live into the often challenging moments and days of our lives we just might discover that God given freedom which alone can empower us to be about the work of discipleship for which we were created.
When we find ourselves in the pits, when we get that sinking feeling, we will be well served to remain calm and to lay aside all our extra baggage. Neither will be easy, thought both will pay real dividends. But wait, there is more! Remember the advice of those survival guys? As if it is not enough of a challenge to remain calm and to jettison junk we may well have been carrying for a lifetime, we are also reminded that it is of little benefit, indeed it is counterproductive to flail wildly about seeking to extricate ourselves. It is best to remain still even as we face our most difficult days, our most demanding challenges.
It is incumbent upon those who have fallen victim to the wiles of quicksand’s threatening physical properties to resist the natural inclination to struggle mightily to free themselves. Those who either don’t know better or ignore good advice will certainly find themselves in mortal danger as they struggle. So it is for we who find ourselves in danger of being swallowed up by life’s many quagmires. If we struggle to free ourselves on our own we will most likely find that we have been sucked under even further.
As I mentioned, mostly in jest, it would be a pretty good idea, were you ever to find yourself trapped in quicksand to insure that you had a companion carrying a long, sturdy stick nearby. That would come in quite handy and would most likely allow you to remain still and calm knowing that despite your predicament, help is at hand and the tools for your rescue are ready and available. As we travel along the often pitted path of life we can be heartened by the knowledge that in fact we do have a constant companion, one who is able to extract us, one who is equipped with the tools to pull us up from the mire. Tools like hope, faith and love. Tools like grace, forgiveness and compassion. Our rescue will not necessarily come at the instant we would choose, not always in the manner we would prefer, but it always arrives in time to save those willing to reach out and grasp the rescue tools freely offered.
In his letter to the church in Philippi Paul writes, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.”
Like the Psalmist who within a few short verses expressed both gratitude for rescue and a lament for new trials, we will find that life, even life with Christ at its center, has its ups and downs. But we can rest assured that we will never be abandoned, that we will always have a companion ready to lift us up in God’s perfect time. We are offered assurance of our ultimate salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ.
Having that assurance we are challenged to be about living lives worthy of the redemption which is ours, lives which reflect the light of God’s love and grace. We are called to produce that harvest of righteousness of which Paul spoke. David understood the proper response to God’s redemptive presence in his life. He proclaimed that he would not simply hide God’s saving help in his heart, he would not conceal God’s love and faithfulness from the people. David declared boldly that he would share the good news, would share freely all that God had done. Such is our mission, indeed it is our mission statement. It is printed there at the top of your bulletin. We have proclaimed as our purpose “To share God’s love in words and actions as we make, grow and nurture disciples of Jesus Christ.”
For your sake, for the sake of this community and for the sake of the kingdom of God, may we be faithful to our mission in year 2011. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.
