Quicksand

My husband downloaded a new game recently. It’s a survivor trivia quiz. I was bored the other day and was playing it. One of the questions was:

You have stepped on quicksand. Should you:
Fight- quickly try to move back to safety
or
Be Still- remain as calm and still as possible and call for help.

I think our natural instinct would be to fight. If we are sinking we try to get out. But actually the more we move and try to fight the quicksand the faster it will pull us under.

A lot of my life feels like quicksand these days. I feel as though the ground around me is unstable and pulling me under. And in all honesty I’m not sure how I got here. Just a minute ago I was walking on solid ground and now I’m in a pit. I’ve been trying really hard to get out of this pit. And yet, here I am, fully immersed, and covered in mud.

It was at the point of exhaustion from fighting against the quicksand that I stopped to ask myself a question. Is fighting getting me anywhere? And so I stopped. I stopped fighting, and simply cried out… Help!

You see, I’ve been taught to fight. To take control, to take charge, to not let circumstances pull me down. I’ve been taught to be brave, to be courageous.

But in the pit, in the mire and mud courage whispered to me… stop. Be still. Quit fighting. Because I wasn’t standing on solid ground. And unless my feet are firmly planted on the Rock I cannot, dare not, fight.

I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry.

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.

Psalms 40:1&2

I am still in the pit. But I am no longer sinking. I am waiting patiently for the Lord. I am confident He has heard my cry. Soon, He will lift me out of here, and set my feet on a rock. And then I will take up my shield and my sword and I will fight. But until then, I will be still. I will trust. I will surrender.