Marvelous Light; Climbing Out of your Pit

He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light.

Job 33:30

At one time or another you will find yourself deeply invested in pit living. Pit living? Yes, living (and often quite comfortably) in the muck and mire. Unwanted circumstances or relationships may lead you to pit living. Choices made by you or others may prepare the slippery path for your feet. Wallowing in self-pity, anger, guilt, shame, resentment, fear, anxiety, and bitterness (go ahead, add to the list of negative mindsets that long to bounce on the walls of this self-made prison) will fasten your feet deep in the murky floor.

Familiar, it’s comfortable there. Cool and protected. Choose your poison and wrap yourself in it, hindering purpose, relationships, abundant life. Eventually, you will blend right in and fail to recognize the walls no longer host shadow play, and have closed out all possibility of light. Eventually, you will blend right in and forget there is another way to live.

We are not designed for pit living, we are not designed to blend into the gray, to be stuck in the muck. Each of us is uniquely created by the One who is light, to be light.

It is often said that God will not allow more than we can bear. I think this is a lie. God will often allow more than we can bear, but never more than we can bear together. Together we can bear much. Together God and Jesus bore the weight of a path to a cross on a hill. A Father and a Son bore the weight of the sin of the world to keep you and me out of the pit, to unfasten our feet from the murky floor.

If today is a day you’ve found yourself in a pit, how in the world do you get yourself out? I will argue that getting out and staying out requires some help from the One and Only, but there are a few things you can begin to prepare yourself for departure.

• Recognize you are in fact in a pit. Circumstances are different than pit living. Circumstances may lead you to a pit, but they are not your pit nor do they have the power to keep you in the pit. Paul reminds us in Romans 8:37 that we are more than conquerers in all things, not just some things. Pit dwelling often begins with self-pity. Self-pity opens the door to all kinds of heavy emotions designed to keep us loving the mud.
• Ask for help. David gives us a perfect picture of the One who is able to pull us out of the pit. “I waited patiently for the LORD; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand” (Psalm 40:1-2). The One who created us hears our cries for help, and He wants to help us! Ask Him. Ask a friend. Ask a family member. Be vulnerable enough to ask for help, to acknowledge that you don’t have it under control.
• Recognize what triggers your tendency to take the slippery slide down to the bottom. From personal experience, I know that pit dwelling is comfortable. It is. It feels good to wallow in the familiarity of negative feelings. Sometimes there are so many difficult circumstances to choose from you can throw a dart and pick a legitimate reason to jump right in. What sends you there? Is it a person? A choice you do not want to make? A choice you are making repeatedly? A holiday that evokes memories of loss or disappointment? If you can avoid those triggers, by all means, run from them. If you cannot, pray over those triggers like your abundant life depends on it. Jesus came to break your chains, to set you free, to give you life. Trade your pit dwelling for what He has prepared for you. Read the promises given in Psalms 103 (these promises are for you!), “Praise the LORD, O my soul and forget not all His benefits (the ones for you!) – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things” (Psalm 103:2-5).
• Recognize there is an enemy who wants you to stay in the pit, forever. You’d better believe it benefits the enemy to keep you wallowing, chained to an ever sinking floor, forgetting you were made by the One who is light to shine His light. If he can keep you in the dark, oh, he will. He’ll keep you comfortable as long as you are willing to stay. He’ll fight like hell to keep you from climbing out, from living abundantly. He will lie to you, deceive you, shame you, guilt you, all to keep you tucked in tight. Psalm 18 is a wonderful reminder the enemy has no power once we remember the One who holds us firm.
• Recognize there is freedom in the One who set you free. There is no enemy that can keep you in the pit once you have found Jesus. Not one. You may slide back in now and again, but abundant life free from shame, guilt, bitterness, resentment and fear is yours for the asking.

Are these the five steps to abundant life ever after, never again leading to the cool nothing of a pit? No, they are not. I am fairly convinced that if anyone were to sell you five steps to anything related to Christian living they are leaving out more steps than can be counted. Call them five helpful hints learned the hard way. Do they work? Yes, they can work. Are there times you will have to climb out again and again until there is sin in your life that you walk away from or choices you must learn to make differently? Yes, many times you will have to climb out. Is there a Savior waiting for you again and again, waiting to hear your cry for help? Yes, there is a Savior waiting for you again and again, willing to pull you out as many times as it takes.

And what is so great about staying away from the pit if you have to give up sin, or control, or relationships, or choices? Well, there is a thing called freedom that does not exist in a pit, that cannot even be imagined in the bowels of a pit. Freedom to trust, to love and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven, to anticipate good things out of difficulty, to give rather than consume, to be seen instead of hiding. Freedom to live authentically in gratitude and favor, to live in light.

Why does it matter that you stay out of the pit? Because you, beloved, have a life to live, a purpose to fulfill, and joy to share. Because you, beloved, were made for the light (1 Peter 2:9).

When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12