Stuck in the Mud

Last night I was reminded of the children’s chasing game ‘Stuck in the Mud’. I played it when I was a child; I’ve watched children playing it…

One child is chosen to be ‘it’. They chase and attempt to touch the others in the game. If they’re touched, they’re ‘stuck in the mud’, standing still with their legs apart. They can only become unstuck if another player crawls through their legs… The child who is ‘it’ tries to get everyone stuck in the mud… unstuck children try to free the stuck children…

It’s been a strange season for Norwich City fans… At the start of the season, we lost most of our matches. We were stuck in heavy mud. In November a new manager was appointed. Our fortunes changed. Our metaphorical legs were crawled through. No longer in a state of mud-stuck-ness we started winning…

Karl Marx’s famously said: ‘Religion is the opium of the people’. Apparently, the full quote is ‘Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.’ To Marx, we get free from our mud-stuck-ness condition through religion.

This morning I’m reading the story of Job. Alone with nothing and no-one, in the depths of despair, he says, ‘Though he slay me still will I hope in him’. Even if I’m stuck in deep mud, with no prospect of release, I will still trust my God. I know he can free me – even if he doesn’t.

Last night’s discussion about ‘Stuck in the Mud’ came from reflecting on King David’s words:

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

In acute mud-stuck-ness David waits… His God crawls through his legs and releases him to run around again… gratefully.