Here is part 2 from the study on Psalm 40. You can read the first part here.
Part 2. Muddy feet.
David is conscious of the stickiness of sin (see vs 2 ‘the clay’). He is aware that sin can stick to you and cling. For example he had to live his life with the stains left by the incident with Bathsheba . If you play in the mud you’ll get dirty and there’s no washing powder strong enough to shift some stains. Sure Jesus will wash us fully clean one day, but for now we need to be careful how our sin can colour our lives, how it can muddy our souls and stain our spiritual clothing.
David’s sins had at times nearly suffocated him. They had squeezed the breath of God from him to the point where he cried out, as in verse 1. Verse 2 is, again, a reflection of David’s sense of being bogged down by his sins. We have all felt, haven’t we, those times when we can sense the muddy waters of sin seeping into our lives and the cloying mud that slows our footsteps sucking at our feet. If you picture wet clay and its slippery qualities one can also imagine how hard it would be to maintain your footing on such a surface. In some respects this clay (sin) is sticky, yet slippery.
But David trusts in the Lord in his anxiety. He cries out as the stench of the bog burns his nostrils and as he lifts his arms in expectation the Lord once again pulls him from the mire.
We can see in Psalm 51: 2 David’s consciousness of his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and he asks the Lord to wash him and cleanse him from his sins once again. “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”
We in our lives must do this too of course. Sometimes we stray from the solid rock onto the bog’s edge. Flirting with sin and muddying our feet. The further we stray the dirtier we get and that clay clings tightly to us again and begins sucking at our feet trying to slow our progress, trying to pull us back to the pit.
The only cleaning agent of course is the living Word. The Lord Jesus and the gospel. It cleans, it freshens and it restores our soul. Some sinful stains need more washing than others; however nothing can resist the cleansing power of the Lord. 1 John 1: 7b “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
David’s psalms often reflect this flirting with sin, subsequent guilt and repentance and a deep desire for cleansing. Then when the Lord obliges David sings praises for his unworthy sanctification and the power of God’s saving, faithful, immutable faith and grace.
We can see this in Psalm 69: 2 and 14, 15 where again David references the mire, the pit and the sense of being overwhelmed by his sins. But as in many of his psalms he reflects too on the Lord’s faithfulness and salvation, setting him “up on high” (v29).
We are clean if we believe; the Lord has promised us just this John 15: 3 tells us of that cleansing power of the Word. “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.”
The path is narrow on that journey to Zion. And we need only stray one step for our spiritual clothing to be muddied and stained once again. There are many attractive idols waiting on that path to lure us once again into sin. We cannot walk on the path and off it. We are at any given time on the path or wandering. It may be seconds; it may be minutes, hours, days or even years. But we cannot attend an idol and the Lord at the same time. 1 Corinthians 10: 21 “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.”
Stay on the path, focus on the cross, focus on Zion in the distance, don’t be lured by idols and keep yourself clean of that sticky, muddy sin that surrounds the narrow path.
Next post: Firm Footing
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