The Bottleneck Prison — E.A. Johnston

Psalm 40 and the Depth of Scripture

There are certain passages of scripture that a preacher may preach more frequently than others. It may be due to the preacher's familiarity with it, or his favoritism to it, or its continued receptivity from his hearers.

It may be all three of these and much more. This is indeed the case with me and Psalm 40 friends. I've preached more sermons from this remarkable psalm than any other portion of scripture and through the years.

Although I've come to this text time and time again, I've never preached the same sermon twice or repeated myself. It's always new, always fresh, because the Word of God has a unfathomable nature to it, an unfathomable depth.

The deeper you go, you can always go deeper and never touch bottom. It's like Ezekiel wading in the waters. First, the waters over his ankles, then over his knees, then over his waist. That's what it's like with the Word of God every time.

You visit your Bible, you experience a new depth you've not known before. Is that not true, friend? Well today, I'm in Psalm 40 with a fresh message for you. Psalm 40 has meant a lot to me through the years for several reasons.

I've been the man in Psalm 40 time and time again, and I know full well from personal experience what it is like to be in a situation, a predicament, so desperate you can't extradite yourself from it.

You're in a jam, and the only way out is through the help of another. Sometimes help is beyond human terms, because your problem's too big for people. If you're going to get out, it'll only be by answered prayer and divine intervention.

Psalm 40 as a Song of Deliverance

Psalm 40 is often called a song of deliverance because David is the penman, and he is writing from personal experience about his own deliverance by God. He gives God all the credit. He is singing his heart out in gratitude and worship to God.

He is the deliverer. Psalm 40 is also special to me because it was the text that I preached from my very first public sermon. I preached from Psalm 40 in a federal prison. Me and another man drove several hours one night way out in the country to a prison ministry that was represented by our church and when we got to this federal penitentiary, we had to go through several security checkpoints until finally a uniformed guard led us to a cement room with about four rows of metal folding chairs and a wooden podium.

Then a big door opened and the prisoners were let in. Once the men were seated, the guard left and locked the door behind them. That's when I started to get real nervous. Not only was it my first public sermon, but I had an audience comprised of murderers, thieves, and child molesters and they were glaring at me as I stood shaking at that little podium as I tried my best to preach God's Word to them.

I was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs and I thought any moment one of those hardened prisoners was going to jump me and stick me with a shiv. And as I preached out of Psalm 40 to those men who were prisoners themselves, I tried my level best to let them know about a God who not only knew about their predicament, but who also was in there with them because he loved them and he had the power to bring deliverance to them one way or another.

And when I was through preaching, my worst fears became reality as the men suddenly jumped to their feet and they rushed me. I stood frozen as a ironing board at that podium thinking this was the end and I closed my eyes and awaited my doom.

I felt arms all around me. The men were hugging me and loving on me and thanking me for taking time to come preach at them. Some of the men had tears in their eyes. Some of the men were Christians and some were not, but they all were grateful.

I'd come to visit them with the message of hope that I gave them. In Psalm 40, friends, is a message of hope because no matter how hopeless your situation is, friend, it's not too hopeless for God. God is bigger than your problem.

The Man in the Bottleneck Prison

Well, that's my little introduction to my message today. Now, let's camp out for a while. In Psalm 40 and see what the Word of God has to say to us today, friends. Here now is the Word of God and may the Spirit of the Lord attend the reading of His Holy Word.

I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up, also, out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.

Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. I will stop there, friends. The imagery here is a man in prison. He's in a pit, or Tech says. This speaks of the old bottleneck prison, a hole dug out of the ground that was shaped like a Coke bottle, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom.

If you tried to climb your way out of that hole in the ground, you just slid right back down again because the walls leaned in towards you. Probably down into mud because when it rained, the floor of that dirt pit became muddy and slippery.

Our text refers to it as the miry clay. David has tried to climb out, but he just falls back down and down over again, slipping on that muddy ground. This bottleneck prison was often used in Bible times to hold a prisoner until a caravan would come by to take him to captivity, perhaps sell him as a slave, like Joseph was thrown into a pit by his brethren to be sold into slavery by a traveling caravan.

The only way out of a bottleneck prison was for someone to hear your cries for help and to stop and to peer over to see your dilemma and then drop a rope down long enough to pull you up and out. That was the only way to safety.

You couldn't get out on your own. Maybe you know of which I speak. Maybe you've been in a jam like that before, or perhaps, friend, you were in a jam like that now, and you know you can't get out on your own, so you've been shut up to prayer.

You've been shut up to God in prayer. That's where David was, shut up to God in prayer. In fact, the words waited patiently, conveying the Hebrew language, a ringing of the hands like knitting a rope together.

That's the imagery. It's a situation so desperate you wring your hands in prayer. Have you ever been there? Have you ever known what that's like? Well, that's the imagery here. I've been in such dire predicaments like that on all the time.

Waiting Upon God in Desperate Prayer

I tried to extradite myself, have only ended in failure, in frustration. The only way out was to wring my hands in desperate prayer and wait upon God for deliverance to come. The key word in this passage is the word waited.

The main theme of this passage is the doctrine of waiting upon God. You go through your Bible, friend, and you'll be amazed how often the theme of waiting upon God pops up time and time again in scripture from the Old Testament to the New.

Noah waited for the break of day inside the Ark. Abraham waiting upon his promised son. Joseph waiting in prison for deliverance. The disciples waiting in the city, tearing until they are endued with power from on high.

The church now waiting for the return of the blessed hope and all the human suffering and waiting in between. David knew full well what waiting upon God in prayer meant. What cost counts and what counts costs when you get in a dire situation that is too deep for the help of man.

It will cause you to go to your knees to God in wringing hand desperate prayer. But God hears his cry and deliverance comes. He's pulled up and out to safety. Not only, not only that, he's placed on a solid firm foundation or text declares.

God Establishes the Believer's Way

He set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. A walk with God is a learning experience. We try to go our own way, go a way that isn't God's way. That's when we often end up in a bottleneck prison, but when we go God's way he establishes our goings.

He leads the way and we follow. And when the deliverance comes, a song is in our soul and we praise him. Why we can't wait to tell others about what God has done for us. I remember one time I was preaching at a conference out of town and my family was broke and we needed help.

Bills were due and we had no money and unbeknownst to me the Christians at this conference took up a collection for me and before I left to drive back home they handed me an envelope with a thousand dollars in it and when I got it I couldn't wait to call my wife and share that good news of God's deliverance for us.

A New Song of Thanksgiving and Witness

When God comes and deliverance, we're filled with Thanksgiving and praise for him and it puts a song on our lips, our text says, and he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. And we see that as we go deeper with God, friends, by experiencing more of him, we can't wait to go tell others about Jesus.

Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. If you are in a bottleneck prison, friend, do not despair. Wait upon God in believing prayer that he is a God who delivers. I've been a Christian for a long, long time and although I don't understand everything about God and I probably never will this side of glory, I do know this and I know it to be true.

God's Word is true and he is true to his Word. Well, I hope this little message, friend, has been some help to you. Remember, you have a faithful friend in Jesus. Jesus will never let you down. Jesus will never let you go, no matter how tough your circumstances are.

Jesus is there by your side and Jesus will get you through.