Stuck in the Mud
An AP news story reported this morning that the WWII Aircraft Carrier U.S.S.
Intrepid is stuck in the mud at its pier in the Hudson River, where it has been
sitting on display for the past 24 years. As the U.S. Coast Guard tried to move
the ship that is now a air and sea museum, the propellers stuck fast in the deep
silt that has built up around the ship’s hull. Even with the year’s highest tide
to their advantage, and after dredging tons of mud from around the hull, the
fleet of tugboats could not budge the 27,000 ton ship from its resting place.
The mission was scrubbed for the day, but efforts will continue to get the ship
unstuck.
This could be a news story right out of the scriptures. Getting stuck in the mud
is a common problem, even (if not especially) among God’s people. There are many
ways we get stuck in the mud. Some are stuck in the mud and muck of their sin,
for example. Perhaps they just wade in at first, but then begin to wallow in it
until they sink deep and the mud rises up around them. David is a good example.
His sin began with laziness, then lust, then adultery, and finally murder (2 Sam
11). The more he tried to extricate himself from the mud, the deeper he sunk.
His efforts were not only futile, but made things worse. If God hadn’t sent
Nathan to pull him out, David might have scrubbed the whole mission and just
remained stuck. Even after being rescued, much unrepairable damage had been
done. If only he had let God pull him out earlier!
Others are stuck in the mud of their complacency. Moab was like this. Situated off the beaten path, she had lived relatively undisturbed by enemies, and had become complacent. Jeremiah, in pronouncing a judgment, says of Israel’s kinsman: “Moab has been at ease since his youth; He has also been undisturbed, like wine on its dregs, and he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile. Therefore he retains his flavor, And his aroma has not changed” (Jer 48.11). The phrase “like wine on its dregs” (or, “settled on his lees”) is a phrase used to this day to refer to wine containers resting on their side to let the impurities settle. In their ease and prosperity, they “rested on their lees”; they “settled,” and became complacent. Thus, they “retained their flavor” and their “aroma has not changed.” They were too comfortable to change. Zephaniah (1.12) used the same phrase (“settled on their lees”) to refer to Jerusalem, for they said in their heart, “The Lord will not do good or evil.” It is, perhaps, more difficult to get a people unstuck from this kind of thinking than that of David’s, for they prefer their stuck condition and see no need to be rescued. They may not be living in outright sin, but they fail to see the mud building up around them as they settle deeper and deeper into their comfortable complacency. But we don’t have to go back to the Bible to find such examples. All we have to do is look around us. Or maybe within.
© 2006 Randy Hohf