Deliver Me Out Of The Mire

“Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink.”

A miry pit is a terrible place to be.

I have worked on many dairy farms as a young man, in Scotland, in Australia, in Zambia and a miry pit is a place where all the slurry from the dairy goes into and then eventually gets pumped out and spread on the fields as fertilizer.

And that is what I think of in my mind - a miry pit - sinking into a miry pit!

Maybe you are there today my friend.

Maybe you are thinking, “Lord, I don’t know how I am going to get out of this miry pit.

Well the good news is, The Lord says that we must meditate which means to focus one’s mind for a period of time.

You say to me, “Angus, focus on what?”

Well, we look at Philippians Chapter 4 and verse 8:

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things.”

And verse 9, The Lord says:

“The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”

We need to meditate on the wonderful miracles of God in our lives.

You know, just having my quiet time, I was listening to that old hymn, a very famous old hymn.

And the words go like this:

“I must tell Jesus,
Jesus can help me.
Jesus, alone”.

I remember how when we started farming at Shalom, there was a fire that broke out on our farm and the fire was raging towards the neighbours and the neighbours were timber farmers and if a fire had jumped over that fence and burnt that forest, we would have walked off this farm, only with the shirt on our back.

But I cried out to The Lord that day.

I was in a miry pit.

Yes, the neighbours came to help me but we could not put that fire out and I cried out to God.

My neighbor said, “Angus, we have to leave because tomorrow is Good Friday and we have to pay wages to our staff.”

And I said, “Thank you for helping me.”

And I cried out to God.

I got down on my knees in front of my staff in the dust and I said, “Lord, I am in a miry pit. I can’t see any way out. This fire is going to jump across the fence and it is going to burn out the neighbour’s forest and we will be totally bankrupt.”

Folks, I want to tell you the honest truth.

On a clear day - there were no clouds in the sky - the wind dropped from the north, came up from the south, with gentle soaking rain and put out that fire.

If you are in that miry pit today, call upon The Lord.

Matthew 7 verse 7, Ask, seek, knock, and it will be done to you.