PSALM 40 begins: "I waited patiently for the Lord; And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 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."Whatever kind of a pit, and whether figurative or literal, matters little. What is certain is that this "horrible pit and miry clay" suggests the experience was something extremely depressing. His particular pit might have been a mental depression brought on by grief, physical weakness, loneliness, or any of the evils which afflict mankind.To find oneself in such a pit is a fearful experience, and even therighteous can be trapped. They may be perfectly aware of the future joys of the Kingdom of God to which their footsteps are bent, yet somehow they slip in. They struggle to get out like a spider in a sink, only to fall back. Then the worrying starts. They become mournful and introspective, or fall to brooding on the contrasting fortunes of others more favourably placed.But what did David do? He waited patiently for the Lord. And he must have prayed, for he says that God inclined unto him and heard his cry. He was wise enough to know that he could not scramble out of that pit on his own. He had to wait and pray.

CATHERINE MORGAN, Think on These Things, pages 7-8