The Second Sunday After the Epiphany Making My Steps Secure Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Today’s Introit is from Psalm 40, which was written by King David. Here David praises God, saying, He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. Dear Christian friends: When David speaks about a pit and a bog and a rock in today’s Introit, he is using figures of speech. David was not literally buried alive in a hole, as if he had been caught in a mining accident, and he was not literally stuck in waist-deep mud like that sixteen-year-old in Washington who had to be rescued last week. “The pit of destruction” and “the miry bog” refer to David’s mental or spiritual condition, not to the condition of his body. David was mentally “in a hole” or spiritually “stuck in the mud.” • Was he overwhelmed by the thought his enemies relentlessly pursued him, swearing not to rest until David was dead? • Was David depressed or grieving because his life did not turn out the way he had hoped? • Was David preoccupied and worried about big decisions that had to be made and could not be avoided? • Did David feel burdened by those several children of his that had given him great trouble? • Was he plagued by the lingering guilt of his past sins? Nursing a broken heart? • Perhaps David simply realized that the throne of Israel and the head of the dinner table are very lonely places to sit; that office weighs heavily; that privilege comes at the price of responsibility. Whatever the struggle was, David has given us the great gift of NOT telling us the details in today’s Introit from Psalm 40. David only speaks in a general way, using figures of speech. In so doing, David generously allows us to insert ourselves into his psalm of praise to God. • You are exhausted; I am depressed; we both have a Christian brother who feels overwhelmed and afraid at the thought of his own future. • We have many young Christians in our congregation who are at various stages of big decisions concerning education and employment and marriage and family. All of these decisions will carry significant weight for many years. • Some Christians struggle every day with thoughts that will not go away. Other Christians must continually fight temptation and habit and recurring guilt. • How about you? Is your home life as ideal as it looks from out on the curb? Do you feel regret over what has happened? Are you exactly where you want to be in life? These are the sorts of things that fit very well into today’s Introit. King David knows that he is not only Christian who feels stuck and buried. By speaking in generalities and by using figures of speech in today’s Introit, David allows each of us to meditate upon the divine Word and to locate in our own lives “the pit of destruction” and “the miry bog.” David also wrote these Words so that we may pray and sing these Words along with him: The LORD my God drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. The figures of speech, “pit of destruction” and “miry bog,” are very general and applicable to many things in life. Not so with the figure of speech, “He set my feet upon a rock”! The Scriptures make it very clear that the rock is the rock of salvation; the rock is Christ, our crucified and resurrected Lord. • The prophet Jacob called Jesus “the Rock of Israel” (Genesis 49:24). David elsewhere asked, “Who is a Rock except our God” (2 Samuel 22:32) and the mother of Samuel insisted, “There is no Rock like our God” (1 Samuel 2:2) and Jesus IS our one God. • Jesus is the Rock that Moses struck in the wilderness, that the people might live and endure (Exodus 17:1-7, 1 Corinthians 10:4). • Jesus is the rock of whom both Isaiah and Peter spoke, “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” (Isaiah 8:14, 1 Peter 2:8) for those who reject Him, but “a chosen and precious Cornerstone” for those who believe (Isaiah 28:16, 1 Peter 2:6). Where is Jesus, according to today’s Introit from Psalm 40? Jesus is right now under your feet! Jesus is not under your feet like an old newspaper that you once looked at but now ignore. Jesus is not under your feet like a weathered doormat, to be occasionally used when needed. Jesus is now under your feet because His is the Rock of your salvation, rich in forgiveness and overflowing with life! Jesus is under your feet because you are the baptized of Christ, and in Baptism God made you His own. God has declared that you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit (Ephesians 2:20-22). According to today’s Introit, Jesus is right now under your feet because Your God drew you up from the pit of destruction (whatever that may be for you), out of the miry bog (wherever you have found yourself stuck), and He has set your feet upon a rock (that Rock is Christ), making your steps secure. Two additional details in this verse will give you great personal help, and even happiness for your everyday life. 1. The first detail cannot be noticed in the English translation, but it is clear in the original Hebrew. It has to do with that last and final Word: “making” in the phrase, “making your steps secure.” The Word “making” was written in an emphatic Hebrew form (polel). Of course, the other verbs here are important: God DREW you up and SET your feet upon Christ the Rock. But emphasis has been added to the last verb, “MAKING your steps secure.” The emphasis can be taken to mean, “God has established beyond all doubt,” or “God as securely made your steps secure.” The point is this: the Lord your God has done such a good job of saving you—such a good job of rescuing you from your sins, from death, and from the power of the devil—that you that you now have absolutely nothing to fear. Your steps are now securely secure, completely secure, upon the Rock that is Christ. 2. The second important detail has to do with the Word “steps” in the phrase, “making your steps secure.” This is noticeably different than what David had just said in the previous phrase, “set my feet upon a Rock.” What is the important difference between “feet” and “steps”? • “Feet” has to do with where you are right now. The Words “He has set your feet upon a rock” indicate that you are right now fully forgiven, saved and securely included in eternal life. • The Word “steps” has to do with your future. “Steps” do not describe where you are right now, but where you are going. You do not know what the future holds or where it will take you. I do not know, either. The Lord your God knows where that is, and He wants you to know that your path is secure. “He has set your feet upon Christ the Rock, securely and emphatically and pointedly making your steps secure.” So then: • The future feels uncertain for you younger Christians in the congregation. The future feels uncertain for your parents and grandparents, too, and it probably includes more thoughts about a literal hole in the ground. • Home life feels unstable for some of you and others of you are so lonely you would love to have a little chaos in your living room. • Restlessness, guiltiness, broken-heartedness, mid-life-crisisness: these are all evidences that every Christian has his or her own “pit of destruction” and “miry bog.” Stop focusing on the mud and the stench. Your God has done better than that for you. The prophets were all more than correct: In Christ, God “has guided our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:79). In Christ, God has made “straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather, be healed” (Hebrews 12:13). In Christ, God has Your God drew you up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog and He has set your feet upon a rock, making your steps secure.
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