The grass was frozen near the road but I quickly found out that the rest of the grass wasn’t. The grass looked muddy, and although I am used to mud when I walk Hamish, it was deceptive. It was the suck your feet, can’t pull them out, what was I thinking walking here, quagmire.
I was immediately literally stuck and when I tried to pull a foot out it went deeper. I took one foot out, leaving the trainer (sneaker) behind. I pulled with both hands, with all my might, and managed to get one shoe out. As soon as I put my shoe on, and tried to walk on a firmer bit of ground, the same thing happened again. And no amount of pulling was making any difference; I couldn’t get my shoe out.
I knew the only way out of it was to leave my shoes behind and try it barefoot and I had to take the risk of getting really stuck. Thankfully I managed to quickly walk to frozen ground and walk home barefoot, muddy and still with my bag of poop.
How quickly we end up getting as stuck and helpless in life when we take our eyes off Jesus. We try and take shortcuts only to realise that it ended up taking us twice long. We think something isn’t ‘that muddy’ and we can handle it, but quickly realise it’s a quagmire.
Things can suck us in quickly in life, one thing leads to another and we can soon realise we have got ourselves into a bad situation and we don’t know how we are going to get out. It could be a sin that we don’t admit to ourselves that it is a sin at the time but we realise when we face the consequences of it.
Or it might have been a slow steady drift off the path, nothing big or bad but we realise we aren’t walking with God anymore. Suddenly we look around and wonder how we got ourselves in this quagmire situation.
“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.” Psalm 40:2
God is patient and forgiving when we come to Him. After He lifts us out and we are walking with him, God shows us how we got ourselves into the mess and how we can learn from it. He steadies us as He teaches and shows us all over again how to walk with Him.
Is there something in your life that you need to stop now before you get in any deeper?
Does God need to rescue you and restore a relationship with you? You have to ask God first for help, and repent or you will be stuck in that quagmire.
Or maybe you are in a pit of despair, depression and it seems you have been there so long you don’t believe you can ever get out of it. God will get you out, He is the only who can. Turn to Him and trust in Him that He can deliver you.