One of my favorite memories from childhood was a backpacking trip we took in the Adirondacks of New York. I don’t remember who all went with us, but I know my dad, my sister JoAnn, a friend Ed DiJoseph (Big Ed), and several others were there.
When we started out the weather was beautiful, but it quickly took a turn for the worse. Rain came down in buckets and the trail turned into muck. It was a struggle just to take another step.
At one point JoAnn’s foot sank into the mud and when she pulled it out her shoe stayed in the hole.
The rest of us weren’t doing much better. Ed fell once and slid past us down the hill, before crashing into a mudhole. By the end of the trail we were all covered in muck and exhausted from struggling through the mud for hours. In other words, we all had a blast!
It’s not as much fun, however, when day after day we find ourselves slogging through the muck of past mistakes and disappointed hopes and dreams. Sometimes it’s a struggle to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. At times,it can be tempting to just give up and wallow in our misery.
King David felt this way sometimes. Trapped in the mire of his own sins and mistakes, he sometimes was driven to the point of despair but, instead of giving up, he looked up, and God came through for him. He wrote that God, “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.” (Psalm 40:2 NLT).
God will do the same for you. No matter how deep the mess you’ve gotten yourself into, no matter how stuck you feel right now, help is just a prayer away.
Slogging through the muck on a hiking trip can be kind of fun, but in everyday life, not so much. Before you take another step, reach out to Jesus. Call to Him today and He will lift you out of the muck and mire and set your feet on solid ground. He did it for David and He’ll do it for you. All you have to do is ask.