A Southern Pastor Daily Meditation: The Net That Strangles Me

The Lord counsels those who honor him; he makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are always looking to the Lord because he will free my feet from the net.
Psalm 25:14-15

What net are you caught in? What in this life makes you feel tangled up and held down? What is the fear or desire of your heart which never gets fulfilled?

Five years ago my husband left me. He said he wasn’t happy and no longer wanted to be married. My heart has been tangled up in that pain ever since. There are days that I feel like I can overcome it, and then there are days when I can barely breathe from the hurt of it. I struggle to overcome depression. It is the net that strangles me.

God doesn’t promise there won’t be pain. But there is a promise of counsel for those who honor God. You do not have to suffer alone or in silence. God gives his comfort and counsel to us through the peace of the Holy Spirit.


If your feet are weighed down by a strangling net of pain, turn your eyes up. God is waiting to give you counsel if your will only ask. Find a sacred place to pray, read a sacred book, and then realize that while there may be unavoidable pain in this life, the God who made you will find a way to make good out of your pain. Take heart and press forward. Comfort awaits.

Melanie Tubbs is a professor, pastor, mother, Mimi, and true Arkansas woman. She lives with nine cats and one dog on a quiet hill in a rural county where she pastors a church and teaches history at the local university. Her slightly addictive personality comes out in shameful Netflix binges and a massive collection of books. Vegetarian cooking, reading mountains of books for her seminary classes, and crocheting for the churches prayer shawl ministry take up most of her free time, and sharing the love of Christ forms the direction of her life. May the Peace of Christ be with You.