Getting OUT!

Let's talk about getting OUT!

It is not a matter of 'dealing with it', we need to get out and stay out. It doesn't matter if your whole life has been spent in the pit or in and out of the pit, you have to get out!

Ummm...problem. Just how do you get yourself out of a pit? The answer is, you CAN'T do it. GOD is the only one who can deliver you from this pit. I can hear everyone (and even myself) saying, "Nah, I can get some friends to help me out". Guess what...it won't work. I know from experience!

I mean, it is a lot easier to get a human to help you out. You can see them, hear their encouraging words, and know that they are listening, but that isn't enough. Don't get me wrong. All these things are great, godly things to do when someone you love is in distress, but you cannot get them out of that pit they are in.

Beth Moore uses Joseph to illustrate this point:
"If a man - or woman - pulls us out of the pit, solely assuming the role of the deliverer, he or she will inadvertently sell us into slavery of one kind or another almost every time..."

Wow. Just think about that for a minute.
Have you ever been hurt in a friendship or relationship that left you scarred? The person who hurt you may later come back to pull you back up out of that pit, but you will still be left with emotional or physical scars from what was done to you. They can never mend the heart that has been torn in two. You will be enslaved until you give this over to the Lord.

An amazing quote from Beth:
"People can help us but they can't heal us. People can lift us but they can't carry us. On occasion people can pull us out of a pit, but they cannot keep us out. Nor can they set our feet upon a rock...
They may pull us out of a pit and even hang around a while to push us away when we try to get right back in it. But eventually their backs will give out. And when they do, we're liable to be mad at them. In fact, we might not speak to them for years. They let us down."

Guess what, folks... People are almost always going to let you down. God is the only One who will never let us down... Why can't we put all our trust in Him???

I loved this analogy from Beth Moore, but I am going to add a bit to it: "Human clay finds it moisture in relationships and will evaporate into dust without them." I would like to add that God is the one that is in charge of shaping this piece of human clay... not the friends, not the relationships, and not the churches. It isn't their job. It is no one's job but the Master Potter.

Isaiah 30:1-5, 15 says this:
"Woe to the obstinate children...
to those who carry out plans that are not mine...
heaping sin upon sin...
In repentance and rest is your salvation
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it."

This passage reminds my heart that God is always there. I am the one who turns away from Him when I choose to follow my way and not His. He waits for us with all of His love, but we do not want to be a part of it. For me, I felt like God wouldn't love me anymore or that I had messed up too much to be forgiven. This pride will keep you chained in your sin.

Then we come to an incredible verse from the same chapter in Isaiah: "YET the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion."

Wait, you mean that God forgives me for everything that I have done? Exactly. He longs to be gracious to us and He will be there forever. He rises...HE - our Almighty, Amazing God - gets up off of His throne to show ME - a poor sinner saved only by HIS grace - compassion that I do not deserve... wow. Not only that, but Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:10 that "He has delivered us...He will deliver us...He will continue to deliver us". Past. Present. Future. God never did leave anything out now, did He? :)

Let's stop trying to deliver others out of their pits.
Let's stop relying on other sinners like us to get us out of our pits.
Let's let Jesus be Jesus. He's good at it.