Psalms 40:2

“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit”

Psalms 40:1-3, “I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.” One of the themes which is emphasized in the book of Psalms is waiting on the LORD. To wait on God is to trust in God by believing the promises of the Bible.

In talking about waiting on God these verses in Psalms chapter 40 tell us about salvation and describe for us the redemption from sin through the gospel of Jesus Christ. One thing you never have to wait on is the forgiveness of your sins that is found in Jesus Christ. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life though Jesus Christ our LORD.”

Waiting on God is directly connected to whether or not a person seeks his own will or God’s will. God gave man a free will. Human beings are selfish by nature. More often than not men seek their own will instead of God’s will. This is why Jesus said in Matthew 7:14, “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Seek and ye shall find. Sometimes the hardest thing in life to do can be to wait on God for answer’s to prayer. Even the lost people of the world who do not live for Christ and who live only for themselves and who seek after only their own selfish will still by the nature of the way God made life have to learn to wait sometimes. A person who gets whatever they want whenever they want often will become a very selfish person. You will never become who you should as a human being until you learn to wait on God. You will never learn to wait on God until you turn from your sins to Jesus Christ. This is why in talking about waiting on God what is described in Psalms chapter 40 verse 2 is salvation; the way God brings a person out of sin and into the righteousness of Christ. The most important thing in life to obtain is righteousness, eternal life, forgiveness of sins. This is not obtained through your own efforts but by grace through faith and not of works: grace through faith in Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God. What an amazing truth that the most important thing in life, the most desirable thing in life, the most valuable possession a person can obtain is something that anyone can have without having to wait on it.

In describing the redemption from that sin, the forgiveness of sins, the eternal life and the righteousness of Christ that is freely given to anyone who turns from their sins to the Bible Psalms 40:2 says, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” Notice how the Bible in this verse describes the sinfulness of man, the self-will of man and the spiritual blindness of man. It says an horrible pit and the miry clay. The words horrible and pit describe the power of sin over man. The words horrible and pit depict a man falling down a hole. Such a situation is one in which a person cannot rescue himself from by his own efforts. He will continue to fall and to fall until he reaches the bottom. This is why those who are lost in their sins are day by day becoming a worse and worse human being. The horrible pit of sin that all men have fallen into only Christ and only the righteousness of Christ can deliver man from. How blind men are that they do not see the horrible pit of sin that they are in.

This is why in talking about and describing the horrible pit of sin the words given are, “miry clay.” The words miry and clay refer to the mud at the bottom of a pond. Dirt and mud is a way of saying refuse or something that is of no value and of no use. This is the state of man when he is lost in his sins. This is also why Psalms 39 says that, “Man at his best state is vanity.”

Now consider the teaching of the potter and the clay. Isaiah 64:8 says, “But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” Jeremiah 18:1-6 says, “The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? Saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.” Romans 9:18-23 says, “Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.” Ephesians 1:3-5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.”

God is the potter and we are the clay. God is willing to bring man out of the horrible pit of sin and out of the miry clay of sin by faith in Jesus Christ. If only man would see the horrible pit of sin that he is in and the miry clay of sin. Psalms 40:2 says, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings.”

Think about creation and how the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. God raised the dry land out of the water and turned the earth into a planet full of life. As we look out into the universe and see the vastness of space, the barrenness of life on other planets and the abundance of life on earth how we can see how it is that God can do the same for any man who repents of their sins and turns to Christ. Isaiah 64:8 says, “But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” Christ is the potter and man is the clay. You can become either a vessel of wrath or a vessel of mercy.

Now what happens to a person who makes the right decision to turn from their sins to Jesus Christ? Psalms 40:2 tells us. God who is the potter can make that person into a vessel of mercy. And a vessel of mercy is a person whose feet are “upon a rock.” And whose goings are, “established.”

In the end, success in this life is not measured by your material possessions, or your fame, or power, or the people that you know, or your health, or your ability to manipulate, but it will be measured by faith in the promises of the Bible. Jesus is the rock: the rock of salvation, the rock of defense. A person who turns from their sins to Jesus Christ and is brought up out of the miry clay into the Word of God will become established. As it says in Psalms 1:3, “Like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever He doeth shall prosper.” Those who are established are those who have the whole armor of God. Ephesians 6:13-18, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”

If you have never turned from your sins to Jesus then do so today. Christ is the potter we are the clay. He can bring you out of the darkness of sin and out of the miry clay and set your feet upon a rock and establish your goings.

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