Get Out of That Pit

God loves you so much and He has a wonderful plan for your life! But I want to ask you: Do you believe you’re living out His purpose for you right now? Are you confident that you’re making progress each day to become everything God created you to be?

If you are weary and discouraged in your current circumstances, I want you to know that I understand how you feel. And there is a way for you to experience more peace, joy, and fulfillment in your everyday life.

I know what it’s like to feel stuck in my circumstances, struggling to have hope that life really could change for the better. While I was growing up, I experienced years of sexual and emotional abuse, and I became a miserable, insecure adult, filled with the pain of my past. The fear of being rejected caused me to be controlling and hard to get along with. I felt sorry for myself, and it often seemed like nobody cared about me. I didn’t trust anyone, and my attitude was “If you don’t expect anything good to happen, you won’t be disappointed when it doesn’t.” As a result, I wasted many years living in a pit of unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, and self-pity.

My “pit” was a state of mind that was rooted in self-centered, selfish attitudes and behaviors. But I also had a place I would go when I really wanted to wallow in the emotions of my pit; it was in the bathroom at our house. I liked to go there to sit and cry when I was feeling sorry for myself. It was so pathetic how I’d get down on the floor, lay my head on the seat of the toilet (because that makes you feel even more pitiful) and whine about all the people who had hurt me.

I’d have thoughts like, I remember what so-and-so did to me. If they think I’m ever going to forgive them, they’ve got another thing coming! I would wallow in self-pity and say things like, “Dave just goes and plays golf and leaves me alone. He doesn’t understand what I’m going through!”

Then, after a good cry, I’d get up and look at myself in the mirror and feel even more pitiful! But I remember when God spoke to my heart one day and said, “Joyce, you can be pitiful or powerful, but you can’t be both!”

That’s when I finally reached a point where I was tired of being miserable all the time and realized that self-pity, bitterness, and unforgiveness were just keeping me stuck in my pain. It wasn’t easy, but with God’s help, I decided to let go of it all and trust Him to restore what I had lost. He alone could make wrong things right…in His way and in His timing.

From the Pit to the Palace

In the Bible, Joseph is a great example of someone who experienced severe injustices but refused to live a wounded, bitter, angry life. Genesis 37:12-28 tells the story of how his brothers, who were jealous of him and hated him, threw him into a pit and then sold him to slave traders who took him to Egypt.

Genesis 39:1 says that after Joseph arrived in Egypt, he was bought by Potiphar, who was one of Pharaoh’s officials and captain of the guard. Verse 2 (NIV) says, The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. He found favor with Potiphar and was put in charge of his household. However, later on Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph of assaulting her, and he was thrown in prison.

But even then, Joseph decided he would trust God to do something good in his life. And after thirteen years of living in slavery, Pharoah put Joseph in charge of the whole land of Egypt. In fact, Pharaoh was the only one with more authority than Joseph (Genesis 41).

Joseph literally went from the pit to the palace! And God will do the same thing for you if you will refuse to remain parked at the point of your pain. God wants you to get up, go on, and do great things for Him!

God Can Lift You Out of Your Pit

Psalm 40:2-3 (NIV) says, 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. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.

I was in a pit, but God lifted me out of it and set my feet upon a rock. People saw what He did for me and then they wanted to serve the Lord. If you’ll trust Him and refuse to stay in the pit of your pain, God will do the same thing for you!

One of the greatest ways you can serve God is to let Him heal your life and then encourage others to know that if God can do it for you, then He can do it for them. You do not have to live in depression, self-pity, self-hatred, or any other destructive, oppressive trap of the enemy.

Whatever you’ve gone through, your pain doesn’t have the final say in your life. God can take any situation and turn it around for His good. He wants to take you from the pit of your pain to the palace of His wonderful plans that He has for you!