Psalm 40:2 – He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. (NIV)

As much as I look forward to the return of rain after the heat of summer. I dread it at the same time, as I hate the mess of mud. With the dogs and small children running about, there always seems to be an overabundance of it. Take the other week, for instance.

I had worked hard cleaning my little house and even steam-cleaned my carpets, after washing the floors. Everything had just nicely dried, when my daughter came down from the big house to drop off my mail. As she and my younger granddaughter came into the porch, her two dogs scooted through the open gate, charged through the dog door into the porch and straight through into my kitchen and living room and onto my freshly laundered bed. My daughter and I were horrified at the muddy mess that these two scoundrels had made. Mud on the floor. Mud on the carpet. Mud on the bed.

Some time later, after I had restored order and was enjoying the results of my efforts, I heard my older, four-year-old granddaughter calling me. Thinking that she was at the front door, I went to take a look. I soon realized, however, that she was at the back door, which, for the first time, she had been able to open by herself. She hollered that she needed to use the bathroom.

Unfortunately, she had been in such a hurry to get where she needed to be, that she had neglected to remove — you guessed it — her very muddy boots. The bathroom floor, the mat by the sink, and the entrance rug at the back door all held the evidence of her trip. As my little house is under 400 square feet, this meant that since originally cleaning it from top to bottom a few hours earlier, all my hard work had been undone from one end of the house to the other.

I must admit that I felt very discouraged, and wondered why I had even bothered. What was the point in trying to keep the muddy mess at bay? It was then that I remembered the number of times that I have felt the same way about myself when, in my Christian walk, I have stumbled and fallen into the muddy bog of sin, only to discover that God never gives up on me — or anyone else, for that matter. When we humbly call to Him, He is always there to clean up our messy lives once again and set our feet on the solid path.

Today, if you are perhaps once again finding yourself in a messy situation, bogged down in the mire of sin, don't despair. Don't give up. Sin happens, just like mud happens. In God's sight, we are all definitely worth the bother of whatever it takes to clean us up and get us going in the right direction yet again.

All that we need to do is to be honest with ourselves and with Him concerning the situation, and to humbly ask for forgiveness and restoration through Jesus, Who loved us enough to lay down His life for all our sins — our muddy messes, so to speak — past, present, and future.

Prayer: Father God, thank You that You never give up on us. You are always faithful and can be counted on to lift us out of the mire that we have fallen into, when we openly confess our sin and ask for forgiveness. Today, bless and encourage each one who may be struggling with a muddy spiritual mess, to avail themselves of Your never-ending love that has the power to wash us whiter than snow. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.

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About the author:

Lynne Phipps <lynnephippsatlin@gmail.com>
Tawatinaw, Alberta, Canada
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