Saturday, June 7

The Lord drew me up from the desolate pit...and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
—Psalm 40:2

Our being-on-the-way is not always a matter of taking the wings of the morning: sometimes it is more of a slog through “a desolate pit.” Sometimes we get bogged down on the journey. Sometimes even the apparently right road leads through a quagmire of doubt, or boredom, or danger, or discouragement. And sometimes it is impossible to extricate ourselves: we must rely on God to pull us to higher ground.

That is what the psalmist is celebrating here: those places on the way where the Lord draws us from the desolate pit, the miry bog, and sets our feet upon a rock, making our steps secure. Ultimately, God alone is the solid ground beneath our feet.

There is a fine old English hymn by Edward Mote that sings of this sort of rescue, this sort of safety: “On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.”  

Dear God, rock of our salvation, we thank you for drawing us to safety when we get caught in the sinking sands of our lives. Keep our steps secure, keep us on the way.

The Signposts for June are written by Deborah Smith Douglas and originally appeared on explorefaith.org in May 2005.