To stay true to a psalm – you should hear it sung, so hear is a modern intepration – don’t try and understand everything, but get the gist – lots of rich imagery from psalms and beyond.
The Mountain Goats - Psalms 40:2 Lyrics (the song can be found on itunes or online)
Pulled off the highway in Missouri and low our hearts were heavy laid
Made for the chapel with some spray paint for all the things we'd held in secret
Lord lift up these lifeless bones
Light cascading through the windows
All the rainbow's heavy tones
He has fixed his sign in the sky
He has raised me from the pit and set me high
Left that place in ruin, drunk on the Spirit and high on fumes
Checked into a Red Roof in stayed up for several hours and then slept like infants
In the burning fuselage of my days
Let me mouth be ever fresh with praise
He has fixed his sign in the sky
He has raised me from the pit and set me high
Each morning new
Each day shot through
With all the sharps small shards of shrapnel
that seem to burst of me and you
Head down towards kansas We will get there when we get there don't you worry
Feel bad about the things we do along the way
But not really that bad
We inhaled the frozen air
Lord send me a mechanic if I'm not beyond repair
He has fixed his sign in the sky
He has raised from the pit and he will set me high
In this psalm there is 3 key images used
1) pit
This is a psalm of David – follower of God, flawed follower but a follower nonetheless, certainly got back in slimy pits more than once
What pit do you sometime find yourself in? Habit, sin, circumstance (not own fault), stale r/ship, lifeless routine, health, $
Often we try and climb ourselves out of the pit, all we do is wear ourselves out – feel guilty that despite all our effort we are back there
like star wars and that the sarlacc (show pic) is a crucial part of return of the jedi. Its a multi-tentacled alien beast on the planet tatooine from whose immense, gaping mouth is lined with several rows of sharp teeth.
So when he lifts us from the pit, its not just to an edge but a place of genuine safety – the rock, himself
2) rock
not just lifted out of the pit, hope we don’t fall back in
rock is him – other options are people or things
two real options in life – trust in creator or the created things, he’s the only real rock, everything else is moving around – like things in the sea – some seem bigger but they still get whipped around in the storm of life, only thing that doesn’t move is the rock. – pic of light house
3) song (vs 3)
what are you singing when you are in the pit? Woe is me, nobody loves me, my life sucks, why me
selfish, self-focussed songs
perhaps its radiohead Creep ‘i’m a creep, i’m a weirdo’, self pity
Rage against the machine– killing in the name of – song of defiance
Keisha – forget my troubles
Elton john – sad songs say so much
Mountain Goats - ‘Feel bad about the things we do along the way
But not really that bad’ content in your pit, like a pig in mud
instead– 'let my mouth be ever fresh with praise.'
God gives us a new song to sing – one of praise to him
When we struggle to even want to praise him – turn to him and ask
‘i want to want you God’
Give me that new song – a song of praise, a song about how you rescued me from myself, the pit i climbed into
So i ask you today – what is your pit?
Admit your pit to God, turn to the rock, wait patiently upon the lord – sing his new song
The finale – U2 40 - played for people to reflect on (see Youtube)
I waited patiently for the Lord
He inclined and heard my cry
He brought me up out of the pit
Out of the miry clay
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long...how long...how long...
How long...to sing this song
He set my feet upon a rock
And made my footsteps firm
Many will see
Many will see and fear
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long...how long...how long...
