Out Of The Miry Clay

 

Out of the Miry Clay

"He brought me up up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings." Psalms 40:2

Emil Brunner wrote that we are stuck so fast in the mire that we cannot help ourselves. We are all sinners in a wrong relationship with God and hence with our neighbours also. We are seeking ourselves. We wish to appear clever and to attain the highest by means of our own intrinsic powers. In our inmost being we have each gone astray. We are godless, loveless, self seeking, God-escaping. (Ref 1)

He is right. The Bible states in Romans 3, 'For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.' In the Old Testament, Isaiah said, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way." (Isaiah 53:6a).

We are sinking in quicksand, the more we think we are in control of our lives, the more messy it becomes and in the clay pits we sink deeper. Fortunately, I learned the lesson of letting go and letting God early in medical school. When going through a period of examination failure, a classmate shared with me this verse from Psalms 40:2. She shared that when going through difficult times, God is there to set me right, to lift me out of the miry clay. 

Subsequently I learned a follow-on lesson from Psalm 37:23-24, 'The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand.' In the struggle of life, it is not I who need to grab and cling to the hand of God, instead, God's hand lifts me up.

This truth of not being afraid to lose your life rang true in the testimony of martyred missionary Jim Elliot. Elliot and four other missionaries, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming and Nate Saint attempted to bring the gospel to the Huaorani Indians in South America but were slaughtered by 10 Indian warriors on 8 January 1956. His biography was written by wife, Elisabeth Elliot and published under the title 'Shadow of the Almighty.' (Ref 2). In a journal entry on 28 October, 1949, Jim Elliot penned these words, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

In similar fashion, Jesus said "Whoever finds his life shall lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matt 10:39), Jesus meant that we must learn to lose control of our lives and hand it over to Him. We must not make ourselves and our survival the only point of our lives. If like the poet Henley we think, 'I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my destiny' we will find that instead of being in control, we will be at the mercy of forces beyond our control. We will sink deeper into the quagmire. Be like Saint Francis of Assisi who concluded, "It is in dying that we are born to eternal life." It is the same proposition as 'Let Go and Let God.'

More than just lifting us out of the miry clay, the Bible informs that something good will come out of our lives.  My Christian friends, Kenneth and Huiwen are a husband and wife, team who founded Studio Asobi. Their works of art are inspirational. Huiwen wrote, "Making something out of clay, which is essentially worthless dust, and transforming it into something of value gives us a sense of responsibility." if we learn to surrender like useless lumps of clay to the potter, then something of value and worth will be the product.

Let God the potter do His work and shape our lives. He will fashion something of worth and beauty as we pray 'Change My Heart Oh God.' Isaiah said, "Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 64:8.

Lionel     

Ref 1: Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter. Plough Publishing House 2003.

Ref 2: Elizabeth Elliot. Shadow of the Almighty, The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot, Harper Collins

He Touched Me

'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.'John 3:16 

He Touched Me. The first time I heard this song was in 1982, twenty years after it was first written. I was sitting on the floor of the Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Louisiana. This is a very famous place to listen to Jazz music for free, a small crowded shop house near Bourbon Street where jazz musicians would gather each night to play. A tall bearded Negro stood up and with his banjo played this song. I sat there enrapt by its plain lyrics and simple rhythm. It became my favourite Christian song. 

This is a song about salvation. Salvation is the greatest event in the Christian life; it marks the start of it. I was saved in 1967. I distinctly remembered that day after school, I attended a Youth for Christ meeting at Wesley Methodist Church. I had been searching for a belief in a God whom I could relate to. Before this time I had either been exposed to ancestral worship at home or brought in front of idols in Chinese temples. I did not find any meaning in that kind of worship or belief. 

At the end of the YFC meeting, a person named Charlie Tan whom I have not met again since, introduced me to Jesus Christ, telling me that through Christ, I can be saved from my sins. More importantly, I could be restored into a rightful relationship with Christ. That day, I accepted Christ as my personal Saviour and have not looked back since; for the rest of my life, which is now going on towards 70 years and beyond. That day Jesus touched me. 

I did not know it then but this song, He Touched Me, encapsulates the experience of my Christian life:

Shackled by a heavy burden,

'Neath a load of guilt and shame.

Then the hand of Jesus touched me,

And now I am no longer the same.

He touched me, Oh He touched me,

And oh the joy that floods my soul!

Something happened and now I know,

He touched me and made me whole.

Since I met this blessed Saviour,

Since He cleansed and made me whole,

I will never cease to praise Him,

I'll shout it while eternity rolls.

He touched me.......

The touch of Jesus put me on the path of developing a relationship with God. Up to that time, original sin and my own sins got me shackled and imprisoned. Oscar Wilde (Ref 1) wrote: 

... And thus we rust Life's iron chain

Degraded and alone:

And some men cursed and some men weep,

And some men make no moan

But God's eternal Laws are kind

And breaks the heart of stone.

And every human heart that breaks,

In prison cell or yard,

Is as that broken box that gave

Its treasure to the Lord,

And filled the unclean leper's house

With the scent of the costliest nard.

Ah! happy those whose hearts can break

And peace of pardon win!

How else may man make straight his plan

And cleanse his soul from Sin?

How else but through a broken heart

May Lord Christ enter in?

We speak of the salvation we received as a touch from the Lord but we should not presume that it was so simple nor cheap. Salvation is free to us but it is costly to God. It costs God his only begotten Son.

The late Rev Billy Graham was the most effective evangelist that ever lived. He preached salvation. But he did not make it sound easy even though miracles happen when he gave the invitation to receive Christ as millions came forward. He preached God's plan for all of us to be saved and pointed out what needed to happen:

1. All are sinners and stand under the judgement of God. 'For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.' Romans 3:23. Graham said that we might believe that we are good enough to win God's favour or that we can perform certain religious acts to counterbalance our bad deeds but 'There is no one righteous, not even one.' Romans 3:10

2. We need to understand what Christ has done to make our salvation possible. Christ died on the cross as the complete sacrifice for our sins. He took upon Himself the judgement that we deserve.

3. We must repent of our sins. Graham said repentance carries with it the idea of confession, sorrow, turning and changing, God's gift of eternal life becomes ours only when we take it. We must turn from our practice of sin as best we know how and turn by faith to Christ.

4. There is a cost of coming to Christ and following Christ. A person must determine to leave his sins behind and turn from them. Jesus declared, "if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23. Graham preached, it costs to follow Christ but it also costs not to follow Christ.

5. Salvation is intimately linked to the cross. Graham asked, "Why was Calvary's cross so special, so different from hundreds of other crosses used for Roman execution?" It was because on that cross, Jesus suffered the punishment for sin that we all deserve. He was our Substitute. He suffered the judgment and condemnation of death that our sinful nature and deeds rightfully deserve.

6. Faith is essential for salvation. We must be absolutely clear on what we mean when we speak of 'salvation by faith.' Faith means more than intellectual belief. It involves trust and commitment in which we commit our lives to Jesus and trust Him alone as our Saviour and Lord.

After Billy Graham preached millions came forward singing the song, 'Just as I am' which means asking Jesus to receive them, heal them of their sins and lead them to everlasting life. Perhaps many were just overcame by the emotions of the moment but many others knew not only in their minds but in their hearts and spirits what they were doing. They were determining their fates from that day forward. That was when Jesus touched our lives and we never looked back since. 

Lionel

Ref 1: Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol. 1868