“He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure.” Psalm 40:2 CSB
Pit in its original form refers to a cistern or well. Often times, they would use these rock hewn reservoirs or man-made wells as prisons. In today’s world, we can find ourselves in the pits of life. They can feel like prisons from which there seems no way out. Especially from our earthly view of things, because we see in part, not in whole (1 Corinthians 13:9), we can feel trapped, isolated, alone with nowhere to go.
How do we end up in the pit? Beth Moore’s book “Get Out of that Pit” lists three ways we end up in pits: we’re thrown in, we slip in or we jump in. Joseph’s brothers threw him in (Genesis 37:24 NIV), David slipped in when he saw Bathsheba sunbathing (2 Samuel 11:2) and Benaniah went in full force after the lion (1 Chronicles 11:22 NIV). Either way, they all ended up in the pit. And we can do the same thing today in our lives. There are relationship pits, financial pits, spiritual pits, physical pits. Often times, we’re thrown into relationship pits because we can’t control what other people do. Financial and physical pits are ones we slide in slowly over a period of time. We can throw ourselves into spiritual pits when we turn our backs on God for whatever reason.
No matter how you got there, a pit is a pit. When you’re at the bottom of it, the only place you have to go is up. Even more importantly, the only place you have to look is up. That is when we will start finding our way out of the pit. When we place our eyes back on Jesus and let Him do the heavy lifting. And He will do it, He’ll bring you out and set you on solid ground. I love what Beth Moore says about the three ways to get out of the pit:
“I believe the Bible proposes three steps out of the pit, and each involves your mouth: Cry Out, Confess, Consent.”
In a snapshot, here’s how to put it in action. First CRY OUT for God’s help. Then CONFESS your heart to Him, whatever it is, whatever brought you to the pit, lay it all out for God. Then CONSENT to wait on Him to deliver you in His time, in His way. God’s will is for you to get out of whatever pit you’re in. He’s got a plan to get you back onto solid ground. But it’s up to you to turn to Him, open your mouth and let Him into the pit with you. Once you do, He’ll lift you out. He promises He will.
