Out of the Muck

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The story an Irish peat bogger unearthing an ancient psalter reminds us of the words contained within his find.

Program Transcript

Eddie Fogarty
was driving his bulldozer through a peat field in Ireland when his life changed
forever. Without meaning to his tractor had unearthed an old leather bound
book. Eddie leaped into the muck and started calling for help, realizing that
this was an incredible find.

But what had
he found?

When the
experts finished their examination, they concluded the book was actually a
1200-year-old Psalter, and it’s one of the rarest samples ever found to date. For
many years, academics assumed the Irish had Christian texts dating far in the
past. Now they had proof!

When I first
heard this story I was struck with a sense of irony. One of my favorite Psalms
of all time is Psalm 40 verse 2.  “He
lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a
rock and gave me a firm place to stand” (Psalm 40:2).

This book of
Psalms containing this passage about being lifted out of the muck was found
buried in a dirty peat bog. And it was a miracle that the elements hadn’t
destroyed this ancient text. But there is a similar irony in Christ’s involvement
with us that leads to truly unexpected, even miraculous, results in our lives.

Christ, our
King of Kings, is willing to get his hands dirty with our messes. There’s
nothing too dark in our lives that he cannot work through or redeem. He’s not
afraid of digging through the muck to meet us where we are. That’s why he came
to us – to find and perfect his beloved. There’s really nothing too difficult,
too hopeless or too complicated for Jesus. When we call out for help, he is
faithful to answer and ready to join us in our struggle and strong enough to
lift us out of the pit. He has come to undo what evil has done and bring us
back into communion with our Father as his cleansed, renewed and one day even
glorious children.

I’m Joseph
Tkach, Speaking of LIFE.

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Program Transcript

Eddie Fogarty
was driving his bulldozer through a peat field in Ireland when his life changed
forever. Without meaning to his tractor had unearthed an old leather bound
book. Eddie leaped into the muck and started calling for help, realizing that
this was an incredible find.

But what had
he found?

When the
experts finished their examination, they concluded the book was actually a
1200-year-old Psalter, and it’s one of the rarest samples ever found to date. For
many years, academics assumed the Irish had Christian texts dating far in the
past. Now they had proof!

When I first
heard this story I was struck with a sense of irony. One of my favorite Psalms
of all time is Psalm 40 verse 2.  “He
lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a
rock and gave me a firm place to stand” (Psalm 40:2).

This book of
Psalms containing this passage about being lifted out of the muck was found
buried in a dirty peat bog. And it was a miracle that the elements hadn’t
destroyed this ancient text. But there is a similar irony in Christ’s involvement
with us that leads to truly unexpected, even miraculous, results in our lives.

Christ, our
King of Kings, is willing to get his hands dirty with our messes. There’s
nothing too dark in our lives that he cannot work through or redeem. He’s not
afraid of digging through the muck to meet us where we are. That’s why he came
to us – to find and perfect his beloved. There’s really nothing too difficult,
too hopeless or too complicated for Jesus. When we call out for help, he is
faithful to answer and ready to join us in our struggle and strong enough to
lift us out of the pit. He has come to undo what evil has done and bring us
back into communion with our Father as his cleansed, renewed and one day even
glorious children.

I’m Joseph
Tkach, Speaking of LIFE.

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