A Pit of Despair
How patiently do you wait for God’s help?
Verse of the Day
“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.”
Today’s Devotional
I don’t always wait patiently for the Lord to help me. If I’m being honest, there are times when I think I deserve a gold star for crying out to God for help, and that by asking God for help that I deserve immediate attention.
I do not, however, receive immediate attention from God every time I cry out to Him. For me, the waiting refines my ability to trust Him. I don’t like the waiting, but in hindsight I can see the purpose of it.
What captures my attention today is the situation we may find ourselves in when we cry out to God. According to today’s verse, we may be in a pit of despair. We may be stuck in the mud and mire. We may be on the unstable ground of uncertainty or doubt. None of this sounds pleasant. But it all sounds pretty accurate.
I’ve been in a pit of despair. I don’t recommend it. But I can tell you with absolute certainty that God did not lift me out of my pit of despair until I became willing to “walk along.” Look at that part of today’s Scripture again: “He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.” Until we are ready to “walk along”, we will likely remain in our undesirable circumstances. For me, “walking along” meant obedience. It meant taking suggestions. It meant doing things I did not want to do when I did not want to do them. It meant taking steps that I did not understand until after those steps were taken. It meant that I had to stop making excuses. It meant becoming willing to walk away from the pit of despair that, sadly, had become rather familiar.
For today, if there is any part of your life that feels like mud or muck, my fervent prayer for you is that you will ask God for the willingness and strength to take a step of obedience. If there is one thing we can ALWAYS do, it is to declare God’s love over ourselves. He loves us no matter what circumstances we are in. He loves us no matter what mistakes we are making. He loves us even when we are impatient with Him.
Romans 8:35 and 38 capture this: “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.”
If nothing can separate me from God’s love, that would include circumstances that feel like a pit of despair. Not even my willingness to get comfortable in the mud and muck can separate me from God’s love. When we finally call out to God for help, let’s be people who are quickly willing to walk along the path of obedience even as we patiently wait for God to act.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How does waiting for God increase your ability to trust Him? Can you think of an example?
What are you crying out to God about right now?
How can you walk along the path of obedience no matter what your circumstances are today?
How can you declare God’s love over yourself today?
What would it look like in your life if you truly believed that nothing can separate you from God’s love for you?