Clay for the Potter

Clay for the Potter Humility Not Condemnation

 

Psalm 40: 1-3 I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth--Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD. (NKJV)

 

The walk of a Christian can be an arduous one. We have never been promised that everything would be calm in the world; in fact Christ warned us there would be tribulation. Yet often it seems as our walk wears on we can lose focus on exactly how miraculous it was that God Almighty; the Maker of Heaven and Earth would choose to consider us, let alone save us. Psalm 40 begins with just such a reminder that we all should read and remember regularly as we continue on the journey God has called us to.

 

Verse one shows a beautiful picture of how much God loves us. When the Psalm opens up with us waiting patiently, we need to understand that the Hebrew word actually means, anxiously. And we were anxious when we sought God. When we were still in our sin we cried out to God and marvels of marvels, God heard us. More than that, verse one says that God inclined to us. One definition of inclined is:

 

·          D isposed; of a mind (usually followed. by to): He was inclined to stay.

 

God actually made Himself disposed toward us. He inclined to us. Can you picture this level of love? Realizing that we were so buried in our sin that we could not ever be with our creator, this is how much God loved us:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. John 3:16-17

Verse 16 of course is the one that is so well known, but it is verse 17 that provides some excellent context for this discussion. It seems in modern western Christianity that it has become trendy to deal in the very condemnation that God Himself did not send Jesus Christ into the world to perform. Christ was sent into the world so that the world could be saved through Him; not to condemn the world. Unfortunately, as Christianity in America has become more involved in the political landscape of the country, we have seen virtually the opposite behavior from Christians, who are meant to be ambassadors for Christ. We see daily the condemnation of the world from Christians who seek to spread the morality of Christ instead of the love of Christ. This leads to the appearance of a sense of moral superiority from Christians towards the world; forgetting that we are all just sinners saved by grace. We speak in terms that can often divide. What is righteous and what is not righteous. Forgetting that our righteousness comes solely from the blood of Jesus Christ. The Prophet Isaiah reminds us of our own righteousness:

But we are all like an unclean thing,  And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV)

Under our own power, our righteousness is but filthy rags. Sometimes we can forget how far down God had to go to save us. David reminds us however, in verse two of Psalm 40. God had to pluck us out of a horrible pit. Most can relate to what that pit was like. Living in darkness and separated from the love of God. Maybe there was abuse and suffering. Maybe addiction and pain. Maybe bitterness and resentment. Depression and callousness. The pit was horrible beloved but God inclined to us and brought us out. He brought us out of the miry clay; which is an interesting choice of words we may sometimes overlook. The word miry is defined as:

·          Covered or bespattered with mire.