Verse of the Day for April 25

The psalm opens with waiting — I waited patiently for the Lord — and the Hebrew is emphatic, closer to waiting I waited. Then the rescue is described in four movements.

He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

Brought up, out of the clay, feet on rock, goings established. The last one is the least dramatic and the most useful.

Being lifted out is not the same as being able to walk. Established my goings is about the ordinary business of getting somewhere afterwards, which is where many rescues quietly fail.

Miry clay is the detail that dates this to real experience. A pit you can climb; clay is what makes climbing pointless.

And what follows is a new song in my mouth. The song is given after the feet are steady, not instead of them.

If you have been rescued from something and still cannot get moving, that is a recognised stage and it has its own verb in this psalm.

Ask for established goings, not only for rescue.