Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my
neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have
come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling
for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. Psalm 69: 1-3
I have been thinking recently about challenges in
life. The times when we feel we are up to our neck – in the mire, or the
deep water, or the floods. As I read this verse I couldn’t help but
think of a very dear friend who, after 20 years of sobriety, relapsed and has
not been able to get control over her addiction for more than a year. In
a recent call, it was as though I could hear the flood of addiction taking over
her life…. The mire sucking her down. One moment she was begging for
help, and in the next moment unwilling to take any help that was offered.
How often do we get caught in the mire and don’t use our
voice to call for help or our eyes to search for God? Moments where we
choose to remain miserable, times at work when we believe that asking for help
is a sign of weakness, times as a parent that we miss the joy of raising a
child because we are struggling through the unrelenting responsibility of being
a parent… there are so many times when we can feel overwhelmed and alone in
this earthly life.
These times in the mire are not constant, we all have good
days, and bad days. Sometimes the mire sucks at our ankles and we know we
are free to escape but we choose not to. Sometimes we even know people
who love the mire and can’t get enough of the drama, or the problems.
Knowing that I can lean on God is a tremendous relief,
knowing that he has the strength to pull me from the mire gives me
comfort.
Prayer: Gracious God, I know you are always close by.
I know that you don’t want your children to suffer, please continue to be with
those who have lost their voice or whose eyes have turned away. Help them
from the flood, do not let the undertow pull them down.
Christi Moock
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