Have you ever felt like life has dealt you such a blow that you’re in a deep, dark pit? You struggle for months or even years to understand why you’re caught in this pit. Over time you learn to look to the Savior and His light begins to shine in and illuminate the crevices of the pit. You learn to lean on Him and your burden is lightened, but still you long for the fresh air and sunshine that emerging completely from the pit would afford.
Overcoming Adversity
You want to walk side by side with your Savior along sandy sunlit beaches, drinking in the blue skies and feeling the breeze on your face. But alas, you’re stuck in a pit – trapped by some form of bondage. It may be of your own making or it may simply be one of life’s unexplainable blows. Whether it is physical, mental, financial or spiritual, you long to fly, but you’re chained inside the pit.
As I was thinking about my own pit, I found myself begging the Lord for fresh air, sunlight and freedom from my own personal trials. Surely I’ve learned the lessons from them by now? Surely it’s time to move on to bluer skies. The words of James Allen in his book As a Man Thinketh came to mind,
“As the progressive and evolving being, man is where he is that he may learn that he may grow; and as he learns the spiritual lesson which any circumstance contains for him, it passes away and gives place to other circumstances.”
As I pondered and prayed about my own situation, the Lord led me to look for the spiritual lessons and treasures within this pit. What were the good things that came from it? I put pen to paper and listed them. As I stood back and asked myself,
What would you trade for these treasures? Would you trade $50,000 for them?
No.
Would you trade a million dollars for them?
No.
Would you trade all the money in the world for them?
The answer would still be No.
More Treasure To Be Mined
At that point, I realized that since I am still in the pit, there must still be treasures here. To ask the Lord to prematurely remove me from the pit would deny me the priceless treasures that are rightly mine. Perhaps I’d even have to descend to the pit at a later time to obtain them. Gratitude filled my heart for the pit and the treasures that it contained. It became easier to be patient with the Lord’s timing so that all the treasures can be found.
I enjoy the writings of Isaiah. They have so many levels of meaning. Isaiah 51:1 and 3 in particular holds personal meaning for me and perhaps it will for you. It says,
“Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord; look unto the rock whence ye are hewn and to the hole of the pit whence ye were dug… For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.”
As we look to our Rock, our Redeemer, we begin to see that the pit from which we are dug is a blessing in disguise. It molds and shapes us into the person He wants us to be. Life isn’t about having or doing. It’s about becoming who the Lord knows we can be. Within life’s hardest challenges and trials lie treasures of knowledge, wisdom, relationships, talents and self-discovery.
From now on, I’ll be looking at my pit with new eyes. I’ll be searching in the Light of Christ for every good thing that can be found here and when I’ve found all there is in this pit, the Lord is faithful to His promises. He will comfort all my waste places, turn my wilderness into Eden and make my desert like the garden of the Lord. I can gratefully find happiness now as I relax and enjoy the journey, looking for miracles along the way.
