“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,”- Psalms 103: 1-4
When I think of a pit, an image comes to mind from a TV show that I’ve seen a lot. One of the main characters falls into an old well. In that well, he can’t get out. Snakes are coming after him. He is stuck, looking up and begging for help out of this well.
While we may not have fallen in an actual pit or well, most of us have felt this way. Helpless, trapped, scared and hopeless.
It wasn’t until that main character was in that well that he would have accepted help from any of his friends. He liked to do things on his own.
How often do we feel that way in life? Like we want to do things our own way and in our own time. It isn’t until we are stuck in a spot where we need to look up that we actually turn to the people that want to really help us in life.
When we find ourselves in a pit with mental health issues, we start reacting in different ways. Some of us pretend to go on living like we aren’t in a pit. We put a smile on everyday while we quietly fight inside of our minds. We use behaviors as a way to cope so that ‘everything is fine’.
Others of us might sit down in the pit and just cry, never looking up, only looking at the circumstances surrounding us. We might turn straight to fear and anxiety because we just see the problem and can’t think of a solution.
See, in the pit, it is dark and your thoughts are so loud and fear based. Your emotions are on high and life is hard. Doing basic things to get through your day (like eating lunch!) is really difficult.
At some point, you are going to get tired of living in the pit. You get tired of fighting the same battles day in and day out. At some point, you are going to look up and see the light. You are going to look up and see that there was someone there, all along, who wanted to help.
God redeems us from these pits in our lives. God wants to help us out of these pits so badly. But we often don’t want God’s help. We want to do things ourselves and fix things alone. We were not meant to ever have to be in the pits of life alone.
While I was researching for this devotional, I read about pits in the bible. Pits, in those times, were meant to trap animals. They were also used as prisons for people. This term was also used figuratively to describe the way the enemy creates pits that we get trapped in.
The pit that you might be in right now was created JUST for you by the enemy. The enemy watches you SO much more that you realize. He knows your weaknesses and insecurities. So the enemy knows exactly how to build a trap for you.
These pits were made to destroy you, but God wants to use these pits to show you that He is your friend. He is your God and your protector. He is your comforter and your peace. But most importantly, God wants you to know that He loves you, even in the pits.
In the pit, the enemy is so loud. The enemy convinces you that you have no control over the situation, no control in your life. That you have to do what you mind is telling you to do. But you have SO much more control that you think you do, even in that darkness. You can control where you look. You can control what you say. You can control who you praise. You can control who you decide to trust.
If you are in a pit right now, start looking up. Start taking control of where you are focusing your attention. Look only at the circumstances and you will not get you past them. Instead of looking towards behaviors, emotions or circumstances, look up. Look up towards Him. Looking towards God in your life means that you start trusting Him. The only way to build trust is to start talking and start reading His word. Prayers and devotionals are a great way to start looking up towards Him instead of staring down at your problems.
Even on the bad days in that pit, start praising the Lord for the things that you are thankful for, even if it is as basic as the breath in your lungs. Even if it is as small as the fact that you have a heartbeat. Start praising.
When we start to rewire our brains to thank God, praise God, and look UP instead of always at the problem, we start climbing out of the pit. It’s only with God that we can truly come out of the pits of life in peace, with love and compassion for ourselves and for others.
The enemy is going to say you can’t control where you are looking, that you can’t possibly look up. Distractions, overwhelming emotions and circumstances are going to tempt you to keep looking back down at the pit instead of up towards the Lord. You have so much more power than you think you do, beautiful girl. Stop letting the enemy tell you that you have no control. Stop letting your circumstances and emotions tell you that you have to stay in the pit. You don’t have to stay there. There is a way out. Look up towards the Lord and let Him shower you in love. Look up towards the Lord. Get your mind out of the circumstances of the pit and instead choose to praise the Lord despite them.
Want to read more devotionals? Check out the rest of them here!
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