Sinking Sand

Sinking Sand

by Pete Berardi

While living at the San Diego Rescue Mission we were required to attend chapel twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. The night service was provided by local churches that donated their time and effort to the Rescue Mission’s cause of providing for the poor and needy. During these nightly services, we would usually sing old hymns. The old hymn Sinking Sand is my favorite hymn. Although I do not know all the verses, the chorus is what is most important. It goes something like this.

On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand…all other ground is sinking sand.

This says it all. Our relationship with Christ is not there just to be “fire insurance” so to speak. I hear many people say, I can live life the way I want and then when I am on my death bed, I will just ask Jesus into my heart and then I will go to heaven. Although the Bible does state that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, it also says that not all that say Lord, Lord will enter in to the kingdom of heaven. Words alone cannot save us. It is the condition of the heart which saves us. And only when a person is born again and his heart is filled with the Holy Spirit can he enter into the kingdom of heaven.

This song comes from Psalm 40:2. The verse states: He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, [and] established my goings.

There are many horrible pits in life. There are some pits that we fall into on accident and there are others that we are more than happy to stay in and reside in. A horrible pit can be vices that destroy our lives such as alcohol, drug, premarital sex, and violence. These are typically addictions or things that we might know are wrong yet do not have the will power to keep from them. However some people spend most of their lives in other horrible pits that they put all their effort working toward. Las Vegas in all its glory is a horrible pit. This town boasts its lights and its tourist attractions. The city from a bird’s eye view is a thing of beauty. This beauty is deceiving. Las Vegas is not called “Sin City” by mistake. Another horrible pit is the New York Stock Exchange. This marvel of the world makes more commercial banking transactions in one day than some countries make in a year. It can be viewed as the world hub of commerce. It is run flawlessly and people devote their lives and careers to this horrible pit. In my view, The New York Stock Exchange is the hub of greed and corruption.

My point is this: One, a horrible pit is anything that is not the ways of Jesus and the teachings in The Bible. Two, a horrible pit does not have to be so horrible. As a matter of fact, a horrible pit can be the best thing that ever happened to someone. The reason it seems so however is the same reason why this person needs Jesus. This person does not even know that he is in a horrible pit and thinks that he has “made it”. In reality the only thing that this person has made for himself is a huge gap between him and the peace of God.