Out of the Dust · Track 3
A Redeemed Country song for anyone who feels like they're going under
The question behind the song
What do I do when despair or sin is pulling me under? Call it what it is and cry out to Him. Jeremiah thought his hope had perished, then he remembered that God's mercies fail not. That mercy still reaches further down than we can fall.
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Jeremiah wrote from the ruins of Jerusalem, a city destroyed in judgment for its sin. Sitting in that rubble, he admits where his heart had gone:
"And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD."
Lamentations 3:17–18Then he turns. Not because the ruins disappeared, but because he remembered who God is:
"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."
Lamentations 3:21–23The psalmist knew what it is to go under: "all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me" (Psalm 42:7). But he didn't let despair have the last word:
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance."
Psalm 42:5And when the Lord answers, He reaches all the way down:
"I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 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."
Psalm 40:1–2Most of these songs grew out of the hurt I carried from pastoral ministry. The way those years ended, the way things were handled above the local church, and what I'd seen in the wider denomination left a bitter taste in my mouth.
During those days, my faith in Christ was stretched thin. I kept asking how God could allow this when I was trying to serve Him. I had given up everything to follow His call. I remember my little family barely making ends meet in the parsonages, while others seemed to be thriving.
The song opens, “Failure on failure.” That's those years in ministry. And when it asks, “Will I ever be free from my sin?”, the sin was mine: doubting God and letting myself drown in despair.
But God didn't leave me there. When I was at my weakest and felt myself sinking, He reached out and pulled me back up.
That's what the song is about. Not a man who pulled himself out, but a God whose mercy reaches further down than we can fall.
Believers who have walked with God for years still hit seasons when faith feels thin: failure on top of failure, temptation that won't let go, a heart that feels shattered. Many carry it in silence, thinking a real Christian wouldn't feel this way.
Scripture never hides it. Not all heaviness is sin. The psalmists grieved openly. But when despair turns into doubting God's goodness, it needs to be brought to Him and confessed, not just endured.
And sometimes sin is just that: sin. You try to get free of it, but your own desires keep pulling you back: “every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” (James 1:14). You hate it, and you keep doing it. Paul put that cry into words in Romans 7, and he ended it with the only answer there is: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25). New Me is built on that passage →
Either way, God doesn't turn away from a heart that comes to Him broken: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:17).
The song ends with the way back up: Standing here broken, nothing to give, back to the Word, where You'll build me up again. It isn't trying harder. It's crying out to Him and returning to His Word.
I'm in too deep
There's no way out
Sinking down
Losing my grip
But mercy reaches from the ship
And pulls me up again
His mercy never fails
His love always prevails
For personal study, a small group, or Biblical Counseling. Listen to the song, read Lamentations 3:17–26, then work through these questions.
Psalm 40:1–3 · Psalm 42:5–11 · Psalm 51:1–17 · Romans 7:15–25 · James 1:14 · 1 John 1:9 · Isaiah 64:6
Hear the full song at MaverickATC.com/songs/mercy-reaches-down · Maverick at the Cross
Questions
What does “his compassions fail not” mean?
It means God's mercy never runs out. Those words were written over the ruins of Jerusalem, and they still say His mercies are “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22–23).
What should I do when my faith feels like it's failing?
Cry out to the Lord and call His mercies to mind, as Jeremiah did: “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope” (Lamentations 3:21). Then go back to His Word, where faith is built up: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
Can I fall too far for God's mercy?
Not when you turn back to Him. “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:17).
Is there a Christian song about feeling like you're sinking?
Yes. “Mercy Reaches Down” is a Redeemed Country song about going under, and about the mercy that reaches down and pulls you up again.
Where can I listen to “Mercy Reaches Down”?
“Mercy Reaches Down” is track 3 on the album Out of the Dust. It's on every major streaming service, and the full lyric video is on YouTube.
Mercy Reaches Down is one stop on Out of the Dust, one redemption story from the first encounter with Jesus to the final victory.