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It's my grandsons' sandbox, not the tar
pits in Los Angeles, but I hope you
get the idea of being overwhelmed.
Sorry, Tigger.
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A few miles from where I was
born in Los Angeles
there’s a park devoted to a prehistoric “sinking feeling.” The La Brea Tar pits trapped the remains of
thousands of animals that waded in for a drink of water, only to be sucked in
by the black goo underneath. Though I’m not aware of any “tar pits” in the Holy Land, that’s the image I often associate with the
opening verses of Psalm 40:
I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and
heard my cry.He [God] lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the
mud and mire.
I wonder if these words came
to mind for the prophet Jeremiah about four centuries later when he found
himself dropped into a cistern as punishment for his negative prophecies. It
didn’t contain much water, but it did have accumulated centuries of gooey mud, and he
sank helplessly to his armpits. The improbable, dramatic rescue is told in
Jeremiah 38.
Like a pit of quicksand,
tarry goo, or slimy guck, depression sucks a person down into its dark pit.
David was likely “sucked down” into discouragement when he was hunted and hounded by crazed King Saul, then, later, as king himself, trapped by his own sins (adultery and murder). One respected Bible teacher* suggested these
additional pits:
*Pit of bad habits—an uncontrolled temper, a “poor me”
outlook, laziness, and addictive habits with alcohol, drugs, or even media devices.
*Pit of circumstances—severe trials which seem to leave
us no breathing room. The apostle Paul experienced these—everything from being
mobbed and stoned, to a clandestine escape from murderous foes, to a shipwreck.
Our “pits” can be sickness, suffering and sorrow.
But the thrust of Psalm 40 is
not about being in the pits but in what happens after being lifted out:
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.
Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust.
(vv.2b-4a)
IT’S A FALLEN PLANET, NOT A FAIRY CASTLE
Someone once sent me an
unsolicited “woe-is-me” letter that detailed complaints back to childhood. I
thought of Job 5:7: “Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly
upward.” This is earth, the fallen
planet! In this psalm, David didn’t focus on what he
didn’t have, but on how he could praise God for the positives that did come his way:
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth from the
great assembly. (v. 10)
Jesus said that we speak out
of the overflow of our hearts (Matthew 12:34). Good fruit comes from good trees.
God didn’t create us to lounge in comfort, but to live for Him through life’s conflicts and confusion.
Jesus modeled how to “seek not to please myself but him who sent me” (John
4:30).
There are times when
depression needs medical treatment to bring our body chemistry back in line.
Overwhelming problems and disappointments should heighten our awareness of
self-care. My doctor’s counsel to distance myself from an abusive person helped
lift me out of one miry pit. But scriptures like Psalm 40 also remind me of my
spiritual resources, distilled into these steps:
*Wait patiently (v. 1)
*When help comes, praise God (vv. 2, 9-10)
*Determine to keep following God’s will (v. 8)
*Keep waiting patiently (v. 17)
One more suggestion: find a
hymnal and sing the hymn whose chorus goes: “On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand!”
*I commend the exhaustive
study of Psalms by James Montgomery Boice, three volumes, (Grand Rapids: Baker
Books, 1994)
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