Scripture for Today:  Psalms 40:2  “He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings.”

January can be the pits.  The hoopla of the holidays is over, the days are dark and short and the sun is reluctant to put in an appearance.   The next vacation time seems to be an eternity from now.

Sadness can seem like a deep dark hole like the one pictured here.  When I indulge my negative thoughts and feelings, I can make that hole even deeper and quite quickly.  Believers are to always be joyful, regardless of the circumstances.  So let’s call the miry clay of our verse the guilt one can feel for being sad.

I am thankful that David was so expressive of his feelings in his Psalms.  When he was feeling discouraged and down, he said it.  When he was feeling abandoned, he said it.  When he was feeling despair, he said it.  When we as believers answer the question, “How are you?” we usually do not say it.  But David was honest with the Lord about his feelings.

David cried to the Lord in this passage.  The Lord listened and heard and drew him up out of his despair.  He also gave David purpose and direction , placing his feet on rock. The pit for David did not disappear.  He is no longer in it, but it still exists.  There is always the temptation to return to the pit of sadness and self-pity.  Even after a miraculous rescue, we sometimes turn around and climb back in, especially when our circumstances do not change.

Thank you, Lord, that when I am in the pits, you hear my cry.  May I, like David, continually praise You.