Ps 39:2

“Christ has heard the prayer of his own servants and has brought us out from the pit of misery and from the mire of dregs. We were drowning there; our whole flesh was clinging to the mire, trapped in the whirlpool of our sins. Our soul was powerless to save itself; fallen and ruined as it was by the multiplicity and dreadfulness of our offenses. Thanks be to the Lord Jesus, God's only Son, who came down from heaven to forgive us our sins. He came to save us from the pit and slime of this world, from the mud and mire of this earth, from this body doomed to death. In his own flesh he has restored our soul and steadied our tottering footsteps. Strengthened by God's Word and absolved through the cross of our Lord's body, we walk no longer in the shame and disfigurement of vice but in the forgiveness of sin. Rooted and built in Christ, David declares that the Lord has set his feet on a rock. As the apostle says, "They drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ." May that rock, which follows those who thirst, confirm the weak and unsteady; may that water never be lacking to those who long for it; and may that firm foundation never be wanting to those in danger of falling.”

“And what hath He accomplished for thee? What hath He done for thee? "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" (ver. 2). He hath given us great blessings already: and still He is our debtor; but let him who hath this part of the debt repaid already, believe that the rest will be also, seeing that he ought to have believed even before he received anything. Our Lord has employed facts themselves to persuade us, that He is a faithful promiser, a liberal giver. What then has He already done? "He has brought me out of a horrible pit." What horrible pit is that? It is the depth of iniquity, from the lusts of the flesh, for this is meant by "the miry clay." Whence hath He brought thee out? Out of a certain deep, out of which thou criedst out in another Psalm, "Out of the deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord." And those who are already "crying out of the deep," are not absolutely in the lowest deep: the very act of crying is already lifting them up. There are some deeper in the deep, who do not even perceive themselves to be in the deep. Such are those who are proud despisers, not pious entreaters for pardon; not tearful criers for mercy: but such as Scripture thus describes. "The sinner when he comes into the depth of evil despiseth." For he is deeper in the deep, who is not satisfied with being a sinner, unless instead of confessing he even defends his sins. But he who has already "cried out of the deep," hath already lifted up his head in order that he might "cry out of the deep," has been heard already, and has been "brought out of the horrible pit, and out of the mire and clay." He already has faith, which he had not before; he has hope, which he was before without; he now walks in Christ, who before used to go astray in the devil. For on that account it is that he says, "He hath set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." Now "that Rock was Christ." Supposing that we are "upon the rock," and that our "goings are ordered," still it is necessary that we continue to walk; that we advance to something farther. For what did the Apostle Paul say when now upon the Rock, when his "goings had now been established"? "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended." What then has been done for thee, if thou hast not apprehended? On what account dost thou return thanks, saying, "But I have obtained mercy"? Because his goings are now established, because he now walks on the Rock?... Therefore, when he was saying, "I press forward toward the prize of my high calling," because "his feet were now set on the Rock," and "his goings were ordered," because he was now walking on the right way, he had something to return thanks for; something to ask for still; returning thanks for what he had received already, while he was claiming that which still remained due. For what things already received was he giving thanks? For the remission of sins, for the illumination of faith; for the strong support of hope, for the fire of charity. But in what respects had he still a claim of debt on the Lord? "Henceforth," he says, "there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." There is therefore something due me still. What is it that is due? "A crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." He was at first a loving Father to "bring him forth from the horrible pit;" to forgive his sins, to rescue him from "the mire and clay;" hereafter he will be a "righteous Judge," requiting to him walking rightly, what He promised; to him (I say), unto whom He had at the first granted that power to walk rightly. He then as a "righteous Judge" will repay; but whom will he repay? "He that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved."”

“Here he presents in particular the efficacy of confidence in the things in which he was heard. And he touches upon three things. First, deliverance from evils. Second, the bestowal of goods, at "And he set." Third, thanksgiving for both, at "And he put." Now there is a twofold evil from which men flee: namely the evil of misery and of punishment. As to the first he says, "He brought me out of the pit of misery." And this can also refer to the temporal misery in which David once found himself. And the temporal misery is called a pit because of its depth and multiplicity. It can also refer to the misery of guilt: because "sin makes peoples miserable," Prov. 14. And both can be reduced to the guilt of carnal vices, when he says, "from the pit of misery," that is, from the depth of carnal sins. Or it can refer to spiritual sins, by which a just person is entangled in sins; hence he says, "from the mire of the dregs." Referring to carnal sins, he does not say "mire" simply, but "of the dregs," or "of dung" according to Jerome, because mire in uncorrupted earth is not sediment, nor is it foul and abominable. Or, "the pit of misery," that is, hell, from which the saints were led out by Christ. And the mire is the reproach from which the saints were led out, in which they were held by the demons. Next he treats of the bestowal of goods, in which he presents two praiseworthy things. First, that a person be established in good things; and with regard to this he says, "He set my feet upon a rock," that is, my affections by which I must proceed on the spiritual way. The rock is called the foundation of divine help: 2 Sam. 22: "The Lord is my rock." Or the rock is called Christ: 1 Cor. 10: "And the rock was Christ." And thus he established me upon the rock, that is, upon divine help. Or upon Christ, "my feet," that is, my affections. The second is that one advance in good things; and with regard to this he says, "And he directed my steps," that is, he guided me toward better things: Prov. 16: "The heart of a man plans his way, but it is the Lord who directs his steps."”