“When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” (Psalm 94:18-19)
Is your foot slipping, stumbling and falling flat into sin’s mud? Trust in the steadfast love of the Lord–not to make the mud less muddy and falling acceptable–but to catch you by the hand and hold you up from doing a face dive into the mud. His blood washes us clean, and his love can keep us clean. In the hour of temptation, take your eyes off the mud of this earth and look up to Heaven’s righteous king. He will give you the strength to safely walk around it and keep going on, hand in hand with him.
Burdened with a huge pile of debt? Medical problems? Marriage difficulties? Work politics ? Family drama? Afraid of natural disasters? What the government might do? What your neighbor might think? If you’re drowning in a sea of fears and worries today, again cry out to Jesus. Let him take your hand and lift you up. It may not happen right away. We often have to confess it all to the Lord, name what we’re afraid of (gasp!) and then loose it from our hearts, releasing that concern to him. Only when we’ve gotten it out of us do we often have room to listen to his voice in our hearts, receive his words of comfort and peace, to alleviate our grief, to soothe our distress, lift the heavy burden from our hearts, and give us joy and satisfy our need. Gratitude is our best response in that hour.
Lord, thank you for hearing our prayers. Thank you for consoling us and giving us peace and joy. Thank you for holding our hands. We pray in the hour of temptation, we would be reminded in our hearts to look up to you, and we ask you to strengthen us in our hearts to have the spiritual discipline to obey and meditate on your love, to hide in it from sin, rather than using your steadfast love as an excuse to roll in the mud like pigs. Forgive us for the times we’ve done that, wash us clean, and polish us until you see your son’s face reflected in us. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.