Hi--I am reading a book called , Get Out of that Pit. This is going to be a study starting mid September--so really I am not supposed to read it right now...but I have cheated and read a bit. I believe it is going to be a focused study based partly on Psalm 40. I love the whole Psalm --this is how it starts:40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord
She makes the point that "a pit is an early grave that Satan digs for you in hopes he can bury you alive"--- she says 3 things show if you are in a pit (spiritually ;-) ) :
1. You feel stuck--trapped--a pit feels miry--muddy--slippery......you are sinking inch by inch.
2.You can't stand up--Psalm 69:2--David says, "I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing"--she mentions the fact that our souls have a real enemy trying to destroy our lives. ....that our passivity has to go . Eph 6:11 says Take your stand against the devil's schemes. Eph 6:13 says "Stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand." You know you are in a pit when you feel utterly powerless against attack and "you can't stand up to assaults, trials, temptations because your feet are in the mud and mire."
3. You've lost your vision---pits are places without windows--places of darkness--"I'm referring to the kind of darkness that simply impairs our vision. A pit is so poorly lit we can no longer see things that may have once been obvious to us. That's another reason we often stay in a pit. Without windows we're convinced we have nowhere else to go......we're often too focused on our sinking feet to crane our necks to the blinding sky.....The close confinement of a pit exhausts us with the endless echo of self-absorption....nearsightedness breeds hopelessness. We feel too buried in our present state to feel passionate about a promised future." "All image-bearers of God were intended to overflow with effervescent life stirring and spilling with God-given vision."
She says we take our pits with us---we may move to get out of them, but so often we just bring the pit with us. She has us meditate on Christ's saying, to come and follow Me. Coming means leaving something. Following means we have to focus on Christ and to continue doing so step by step. I really think one reason we get ourselves into pits and continue in them is we loose this focus on Christ and the daily step by step following Him. We also loose sight of the fact that He is a Deliverer and can set our feet on a Solid Rock.
I think we all feel we are in a pit at times.
I do feel Gram gave up when Grandpa had his stroke--she is focused so on herself and has spiraled so far down she has drowned. (The alzeihmers has contributed greatly to this. )Grandpa was almost at that point as well. We do need to remember our enemy is attacking. We do need to cry to our Deliverer to rescue us from our pit---We do need to focus on Him----and have that dynamic interaction with Him. I do think this is one reason for Christian fellowship---it helps us in our focus. Also helping others also helps us reflect on life and what is important.
I do feel it is true that we carry our pit with us. The author's husband had been almost killed when he was 4. There had been an explosion in the garage and his Dad managed to rescue him, but he (the author's husband) saw his own brother burn to death. This created a pit for him and he didn't get out of it until much later in his life. I am looking forward to the rest of this study.
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