As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!

Psalm‬ ‭40‬:‭17

Sobering up requires a stance that we are often unwilling to take, even if we are not altogether unfamiliar with taking it.

Submitting for help—pleading with a force outside ourselves for deliverance.

This is not fun. This is ridiculous. How is this supposed to work?

The old quip in recovery groups is that it’s spiritual not logical. The whole thing, that is: it’s a spiritual program of action. So while it may make no sense to us on the front end, there are actual, practical steps to take that end up leading us toward peace, away from addiction, toward healing, away from the hole we’d dug, toward God, away from ourselves.

But this doesn’t explain things either, I admit.

And it’s probably why we question things that are meant to help us far longer than we should.

Just taking action—accepting help, praying for the first time, reading, going to a meeting, whatever the first bits of action may be…this is an act of faith. It’s a scrap of hope.

Meaningless by itself, but remarkably it’s enough to start a chain reaction if we continue to chase it with more action.

We need deliverance. And when the pain of self-centered living gets harsh enough, thank God we often get willing enough to ask for it.

God, help me out of the pit.