WEDNESDAY'S WORD - QUAGMIRE - Sadell Bradley - 12/6/2023

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD QUAGMIRE 12/6/2023 "In a way, forgiving is only for the brave. It is for those people who are willing to confront their pain, accept themselves as permanently changed, and make difficult choices. Forgivers are not content to be stuck in a quagmire. They reject the possibility that the rest of their lives will be determined by the unjust and injurious acts of another person." ~ Gordon Dalbey - Author TONIGHT 7 PM BIBLE STUDY ACTING UP!: FREEDOM SONGS @warehouseOTR  Facebook, Youtube     A QUAGMIRE is a soft boggy area of land that gives way under foot. Figuratively, it is an awkward, complex, or hazardous situation. A person can be mired in work, or a relationship that prevents them from going anywhere. In a quagmire, you're stuck "in the mud," physically, financially, mentally, emotionally,  or spiritually. The situation is hard to escape. There is no easy solution. We used to sing, "He brought me out of the miry clay. He placed my feet on a rock to stay. He put a song in my soul today, a song of praise, hallelujah!" Mire is a situation of difficulty, distress, or embarrassment from which it is hard to extricate oneself. It's a predicament of chance, unknown conditions, or uncertain developments. Quagmires lack security and stability. You don't see the miry portion of land before you step onto it, lose control, start to sink, and desperately want to get out. With quagmires, getting out depends on the will, strength, or pleasure of another. Mire can be a symbol of depression - a desolate pit of despair where one is bogged down in sadness, grief, despondency, or helplessness. God can lift us out of the quagmire by His love, grace, and power. We come out muddied...but we're free! "He brought me out into a spacious place. He rescued me because He delighted in me." (Psalm 18;9) Scholars believe David was in exile when he wrote some of the Psalms, " Deeper and deeper I sink into the mire; I can't find a foothold. I am in deep water, and the floods overwhelm me." (Psalm 69:2) The king was in a devastating situation and needed God's help. He cried out, "Rescue me from the miry mud; don't let me sink. Let me be rescued from those who hate me, and from the deep water." (v.14) In Psalm 40, 1-2 God answers, "I waited patiently for the LORD, And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet up on a rock, And established my steps." David was not able to escape his situations on his own. He had to wait for the LORD to reach down, rescue, settle and stabilize him on a secure landing place. We now know that Rock to be Christ Jesus— all other ground is sinking sand.