A pit and a rock. Two contrasting items. In the last post, we talked about the pit and what gets us in the pit. I hope you took time to evaluate the reasons you are in the pit. Today, I want to focus on the differences between the pit and the rock.
A pit in the Bible times was a cistern which held water, it was often turned into a prison. It was perhaps a deep cavern where there was running water creating noise and turbulence. A pit is below ground. When you are in a pit you can’t see the world around you, only the hole you are stuck in. It was place where there was no hope of escape, where the waters roared. It's a place of desolation and destruction and is comparable to a grave. At the bottom of this pit, there was slimy clay where there was no rock to stand. One commentator says that one's feet stuck fast and unable to move.
Could you imagine living in a state of constant noise feeling imprisoned, perhaps some of you are?
This is a place where life has left you surrounded by your own thoughts of failure, people in your life who have hurt you. You were cast in this pit and you desperately want to get out. There is so much noise from everything around you that you don't think God can hear you. Perhaps this pit has become such a place of brokenness that you would rather die than live here any longer. The pit is a place of isolation by your own thoughts and actions. Many times when you are in a pit, you are no longer able to be present for those closest to you because you are consumed by your own situations.
Joseph was a good church boy, who was put into a pit to be left there to die, only to be sold, then to spend 13 years in prison for something he didn't do.
Life can break us and the enemy sees to it we stay bound. He wants you to believe that you will never get ahead. The abundant life God talks about isn't for you. You have too much baggage, too much hurt, too many issues. We believe this lie, that we are going to stay in the pit forever.
Before God rescued Joseph, I wonder, if he felt forgotten by God? Have you ever felt that way? Do you ever think, this is just the way it is for me as you watch others move past you doing great things?
The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). -John 10:10 AMP
Imagine being desolate, being slowly destroyed, noise to where you can't think and then not able to get your footing, sliding and slipping. Falling over and over again, muddy from head to toe or perhaps your feet are stuck and your paralyzed to move. Fear of the dark and unknown, keep you there.
"...heard my cry. He drew me up out of a horrible pit [a pit of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay (froth and slime), and set my feet upon a rock…”
There is hope. When we expect something from Jesus, He comes through. He comes near by leaning towards us. He is not repelled by our failures or issues. I believe He is closer all the more when we need Him the most. When, He hears our cry, it’s a bellowing request for help. It’s an act of faith to ask, in this case a desperate plea. I don’t like to ask for help and sometimes, I don’t even ask God when I need something because I still fight through the feelings that He doesn’t care about all of my needs. When I speak out what I want, it’s no longer an internalized hope, but it’s out in the open. Fear keeps us from asking because we don’t want to be disappointed. Our answer can come one of two ways, yes or no. A yes means, Jesus is going to do it and has been waiting on us to ask or no, it’s not time or it’s not His perfect will for me. Either way we can’t lose because it will all work for our best.
THE WORD which came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was working at the wheel. And the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he made it over, reworking it into another vessel as it seemed good to the potter to make it. - Jeremiah 18:1-4 AMP
The potter pulled out the clay from the slimy ground and set it on the potters stone wheel. The potter had to form the clay into the design He intended. This is what God desires to do when He pulls up out of the pit.
When…yes when God delivers us from the pit, He sets our feet on rock. Not just any rock, but the Rock Christ Jesus. A rock is sturdy. A rock is above ground. A rock makes it easier to walk. A rock is something to hold on to.
'And all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.' -1 Corinthians 10:4
I go to one of my favorite parables that Jesus told is in Luke 6:46-49:
'“So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”’
If we want to stand strong in difficult times, we must dig deep into our hearts and build upon the Rock of who Jesus is and who we are in Him. If we don’t we will sink into the sand and be back in a pit once again.
'For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.' -1 Corinthians 3:11
So how do we build upon the Rock?
As you evaluated why you ended up in the pit to begin with, now, you must take the word and abolish those lies. How do I know they are lies, because if the reasons you ended in the pit was build on truth, you wouldn’t have been in a pit. Jesus lifts up, the enemy tears down. That is the difference. Jesus wants us to be free, the enemy wants us to be bound. That is how I know that what trapped you in the pit wasn’t from God and it certainly was not how He sees you!
Find scriptures that say who you are in Christ Jesus and what He will do in your life. That is what digging deep and building a solid foundation really is. It’s changing the way you think about yourself and your circumstances. Jesus wants you to believe the truth, because "the truth will set you free!" (John 8:32). See the difference in the pit and the Rock; truth sets you free, the lies of the pit traps you.
I will always strive to be transparent with you. Recently, things have just been difficult. Have you ever had those times when obstacles kept stacking up against you? I am at that place. My thought life has taken a real hit lately and I have called out to the Lord for help to navigate through all of it. To get my thoughts back on track, I found 100 scriptures on who I am in Jesus and what He will do in my life. I have written them out and am reading every day. Sometimes, we just need to be reminded that the pit isn’t the abundant life Jesus promised us. A life built upon His attributes and what the truth of what our life is in Him is the abundant life.
I pray that if you are feeling buried by life and living beneath where God wants you, that you will join me in calling out to Jesus and building upon what He says about you! I know it will turn your whole life around and the things you are dealing with will fall into proper perspective and not seem insurmountable. The abundant beautiful life is for you!
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