That Sinking Feeling

Growing up as a kid, I loved watching “jungle movies” on Saturday afternoons on TV. There was always one scene you could count on in this genre as the group of explorers or treasure hunters, good guys or bad guys, made their way through the dense jungle: Someone was going to fall into “quicksand.”

Quicksand is a small, dense pool of muddy and murky sand. When the person falls in, they sink quickly to about the waist, then slowly to the chest. The more they fight and struggle, the more the quicksand sucks them in, to eventually swallow and drown them.

Their only hope for rescue is to allow someone who is standing on solid ground to pull them out, using a long rope, branch, or the best option—a chain of connected people. This is the only method for salvation from quicksand.

This life is full of quicksand pits. In fact, the culture keeps inventing more. While these may have different names, they’re all actually the same pit, connected to the same place. Some people fall in simply by not paying attention to what is in front of them while others jump in because they think it will be fun or an answer for their need. Regardless of the motive or reason, once anyone falls into a pit, the only way out is to trust someone for help. Left alone or refusing a hand, those in quicksand will eventually drown.

The very strange thing about the quicksand of this world is the Enemy can make it look very enticing and exciting, even disguising it as a great choice and stable place to stand. But it’s a matter of time until, once he has the person standing in the right spot, the true nature of the floor is revealed and they are in too deep and sinking. And, sadly, at this realization, so many just choose to give in to their “fate.”

Are you walking in an area where you know, or have been warned, that there are pits?

Are you flirting with and playing around a pit, thinking you are the exception?

Are you up to your neck, realizing it, and know you desperately need help to get out?

Stop fighting and struggling all alone and reach out to someone who truly cares about you or simply reach out to anyone who has already offered help. Grab their hand before it is too late. But be certain you reach first for the only One about whom we can always say …

He pulled me out of a dangerous pit, out of the deadly quicksand. He set me safely on a rock and made me secure. —Psalm 40:2 GNT