2026 Pentecost Devotions I
Wednesday, June 17
Psalm 69:14-18
With your faithful help 14 rescue me
from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
15 Do not let the flood sweep over me
or the deep swallow me up
or the Pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant,
for I am in distress—make haste to answer me.
18 Draw near to me; redeem me;
set me free because of my enemies.
“… With your faithful help 14 rescue me from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. …”
There’s an old adage that says: When you dig yourself into a hole, stop digging. Unfortunately, we sometimes fail to heed this advice.
I remember a time when I was a teenager trying to talk my way out of a stupid incident that scared my aunt who lived next door. The more I attempted to explain and justify my actions, the more my father got rile up.
“Stop lying to me!” he finally blurted out. “and tell me the truth.”
Too often, even though the muck and the mire of our lives is already up to our waist, we continue to try to deliver ourselves from our predicament. We try to “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.”
The psalmist takes another tact. “With your faithful help…” the author begins. Rather than seeking to deliver ourselves from our own self-created pits or deep waters rooted in sin and death, we are encouraged to turn first to the Lord for help. Rather than “doing it ourselves”, like the psalmist, we seek God’s help.
This demands a faithfulness in the Lord, a trusting of God’s promise of deliverance, and a belief that God seeks our welfare. To turn to the Lord in time of trial is not weakness, it is following the advice given long ago: When you’ve dug yourself into a hole, stop digging. Instead, call upon the Lord.
Prayer: Sometimes, Lord, I find myself in the midst of a pit of despair and desperation. Remind me then to call upon You – You who delivers and sets free. Amen.