Thought for 30 August

 Psalm 40:1-3

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. 

He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire.  He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.  He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.  Many will see what he has done and be astounded.  They will put their trust in the Lord.

There’s a gentleman I’ve only become acquainted with over the last couple of years that I now regard as a friend.  The first time I was introduced to him my first impressions were:  he’s built like a gangster, wouldn’t like to meet him on a dark night.  Once I parked the initial impressions, I discovered he was a decent and lovely man and as gentle as a gentleman could be.

It’s natural I suppose that when you really get to know someone the conversations shared can cover aspects of our lives that we would never contemplate discussing when we get to know someone for the first time.  Just the other week, he happened to mention that he had a son in his early thirties that was addicted to drugs.  He had been a good lad, served an apprenticeship, met a girl, got married and had two children.  All was well and normal until he started spending time with a different group of friends.

He began by experimenting with different types of drugs and eventually became dependant upon them.  All his previous priorities no longer mattered.  Drugs changed this lad more than any of us can imagine.  He left his wife and family, lost his job, lived rough and if he did return to his parents or wife, it was just temporary and sometimes to steal something that he could sell to fund his habit.  There were a few times he sought help and went into a rehabilitation programme, each time for almost a year but after returning to some sort of normality for a time, the lure of his addiction dragged him back in.  Over the years that all this took place, he confided to his father that he had contemplated suicide at various times.

The reason I chose to share this story is when you hear stories like this, it is usually, but not always,   strangers that are involved or affected, and ordinarily, we would never come into contact with an addict or, for that matter, close relatives of the addict.  Can you even begin to imagine what his wife, his children, his parents, his friends have gone through and are still going through?  Does it not make you realise that while this story today is only about one man, he is only one of thousands of men and women who are living the same experience right now?

It would be a good thing to pray for these poor souls and ask that they be drawn somehow to this small passage of scripture from the book of Psalms and that they may be cured from their addiction by having a loving God and Saviour to tend to their earthly and their heavenly needs and lift them from the ‘pit of despair’.

Prayer – Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can cry to you and that you will hear our prayers.  It can be hard for us to understand the why behind this broken world and the seemingly impossible circumstances that some of us find ourselves in.  Lord, please help us choose to grow through all that we experience in our lives. Help us recognise when your glorious hand is working in our lives.  We pray Lord that you will rebuke the tempter and break his schemes from oppressing us. Please surround us with your spiritual protection and lead us to increase our faith in you.   Amen