Loving the Word with the MudPreacher

Abraham Lincoln told of a simple encounter with ‘mud.’

“Once in Springfield I was going off on a short journey, and reached the depot a little ahead of time.  Leaning against the fence outside the station was a little Negro boy who I knew, named Dick, busily digging with his toes in a mud puddle.  As I came up I said, ‘Dick, what are you about?’  “Making a church,’ said he.  ‘A church?’ said I, ‘What do you mean?’  ‘Why, yes,’ said Dick, pointing with his toe.  ‘Don’t you see, there’s the steps and there’s the door; here’s the pews where the folks sit, and there’s the pulpit.’  ‘Yes, I see,’ said I, ‘but why don’t you make a minister?’  ‘Laws,’ answered Dick with a grin, ‘cause I hain’t got mud enough.'”  (Lincoln and the Preachers, by Edgar DeWitt Jones, p. 145, quoting Lincoln)

Jeremiah preached in the mud…

This blog is dedicated to Jeremiah, the very first Mudpreacher! Jeremiah became a Mud Preacher when he was imprisoned at the bottom of a well in King Zedekiah’s prison. There was no water in the well, but at the bottom was a thick layer of mud. Jeremiah sunk into that mud, perhaps up to his chest. Covered with mud, he kept on preaching from the bottom of the well. What was he preaching you say? What could he have been saying that even the King wanted to shut him up?

Jeremiah was simply telling the King and his princes what they must do to live. He was preaching to them the reward of LIFE! “This is what the Lord says: ‘Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life. They will live!’ Jeremiah 38:2 (NLT)

Jeremiah kept on proclaiming the Word of God no matter what it cost him, even being stuck chest deep in mud at the bottom of a well. He along with other Old Testament Prophets realized we are all just big hunks of mud. For Paul reminds us:  “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” (2 Cor 4:7).

I join the long line of men who passionately proclaim the truth and life of God’s Word. Sink me to the bottom of a muddy well and I will keep on preaching. I am just a hunk of mud blessed with the excellency of the power of God’s Word. This mudpreacher loves to preach the Word of God, not just to heads, but to hearts. The Preaching of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,  but to us it is the Power of God.

Understand that this mudpreacher has been in the business world, running his own companies, when God finally persuaded him to surrender to a call that God had given him years earlier. So this love for proclaiming God’s Word comes with real-world experience and application.

God needs us to prepare the way for His coming King, the Righteousness of Judah, Jesus Christ.  He needs Preachers who are not afraid to admit they are merely hunks of mud, but blessed with proclaiming the Mighty Word of God! If we preach from the mud, we will never take any of the glory from God and His Word! The power and glory must always be to our Savior and Lord, for we are mere morsels of earth that He has breathed His Glory and Word into!