Psalm 40:1-2

I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.

I was born and brought up in Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex on the Thames Estuary. As a boy I loved exploring the coast, which is well known for its generous expanses of mud! At low tide it is possible to walk out more than a mile from the shore. However, you have to be careful. In places the mud is of such a fine quality that you can easily sink into it; I remember being told gory stories of people who got caught in the mud when the tide turned, with disastrous consequences.

The psalmist here is reflecting on his own life and recognises that he had once been totally stuck – just like being stuck in mud. He had been in a hopeless situation but he cried out to God, who had reached out to him and lifted him to a place of solid ground. What a relief! There are some predicaments in life for which no human remedy will work. However hard we try, we will sink back into the mud. We need to cry out to God and have the humility to let him reach down and rescue us.

The rescue is vitally important but it’s not the end of the process. God rescues us so that we can then live securely and serve him confidently. He enables us, by his Spirit, to live a completely new life. The last thing we would want to do is get stuck in the mud all over again.

Question

Have you had the experience of God rescuing you?

Prayer

Loving God, thank you that you reach out to me when I get badly stuck in life. Thank you that you are able to set my feet on solid ground and give my life new meaning and purpose. Amen