King David was God’s chosen, and the anointed King of Israel, yet he experienced hard times, trials and the testing of his faith. This king was called, a man after God’s own heart, but there were times his humanness pulled him into making unwise choices, apart from God, and the consequences created were hard to bear. He also had various family problems, and many enemies who desired to take advantage of him, and some wanted to kill him just because He was God’s chosen king.
When David experienced these challenging, hard times, and felt discouraged, sooner or later he would turn to the God of His salvation with the cries of his heart. He said, “Lord, don’t hold back your love or withhold your tender mercies from me. Keep me in your truth and let your compassion overflow to me no matter what I face. Evil surrounds me; problems greater than I can solve come one after another. Without you, I know I can’t make it. My sins are many! Take pleasure in showing me your favor and restore me”.
When King David was stuck in the “pit,” he waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord to rescue him, in spite of his feelings. His faith triumphed over his feelings! He professed, “I waited and waited and waited some more; patiently, knowing God would come through for me. Then, at last, he bent down and listened to my cry. He stooped down to lift me out of danger, from the desolate pit I was in, out of the muddy mess I had fallen into.”
There are times in our humanness that prolonged, hard, circumstances that we are unable to control- combined with the enemies design to pull us into negative thoughts and feelings, robs us of our hope in our loving, delivering Lord Yahweh, and pulls us down into a dark pit. The pit is a weary place to get stuck; it is full of anger, hurt, helplessness, hopelessness, and fear. At some point in the pit, the realization that we need help, and we cannot get out by ourselves must drive us to our Maker. He has the desire and power to draw us out. He is faithfully closer than we know…. He faithfully listens… He faithfully cares…. He faithfully delivers!
Coming out of the pit is usually a process that requires us to look within our hearts and work through the muddy mess. During this process, God becomes our counselor and helper, as we learn to talk to Him, trust Him, and release our needs to Him. Like a loving parent, He will cry and feel the pain with us, enabling us to experience release from the sticky, miry clay that holds us captive. Then we will be able to accept His offer of hope, grace and stability, while He will steadies our hearts and minds to walk along his ascending path. Our confession will be; “Now he’s lifted me up into a firm, secure place, and steadied me while I walk along his ascending path. A new song for a new day rises up in me”!
“I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord: and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up out of a horrible pit [a pit of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay [froth and slime], and set my feet upon a rock, steadying my steps and establishing my goings” (Psalm 40:1-2).
