Father, please hear my cry

Psalm 28:1 "To you I call, O LORD my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit."

I am the first one to admit - I have been a pit dweller. I have been reading a book by Beth Moore called "Get out of that Pit!" and it has been excellent for me. And I recognize that the pit has been my home for a long time and I am really tired of being there. Now of course, I have jumped in head first a few times, crawled my way out by my own will and fell right back in. It is a very wearying thing to be a pit dweller. There is not a whole lot of fresh air there and the light grows dimmer the deeper in I go.

After awhile you start to feel pretty much at home in the pit. I mean, I know every nook and cranny. I can count the number of steps from one side to the other and I know by feel every bump in the walls. After all in the pit life is pretty comfortable. You know your limitations and you grow accustomed to it. But, now and then there is this nagging suspicion that I am missing out on something and that the air must be cleaner and the light brighter outside of the pit.

Now and then I will half-heartedly call out from the pit and ask someone else to lend me a hand and lift me out. Try as they might these helpful, caring friends have been unable to get me past the lip of the pit before either I let go or they grew weary of the tug of war. I discovered each time that I fell back that I was actually further down in the pit.

So now after all of these years of being in the dank, dark, lonely environment that I have called home, I am calling out to God. I am asking Him to see me where I am and to lift me up where the fresh air of the Spirit and the light of the Son can help me to grow and flourish. I am weary of the confines of the pit and all the lies that have kept me down.

There is risk in being out of the pit. And that has been something that has trapped me in the past. How can it be risky to be out in the light and the fresh air? The answer to that is that one must live in the TRUTH. And so other pit dwellers may not want to know my truth or they may not accept my truth once they do know it. That is risky. Would I rather live in safety and live a lie or would I rather live in truth and learn to truly trust in the Father who loves me beyond what I could ask or think? I am crying out to God that He will lift me from the pit and help my unbelief.

Pit dwellers, especially those who put themselves in the pit, usually think that they are beyond the help of God. It's a pride thing. I mean after all my sin is pretty big, pretty deep and how in the world could God ever forgive me? I have come to realize that my idol that I have bowed down to all these years has been my own foolish pride.

Father, forgive me. See me for who I am and here my cry as I seek to be lifted out of the pit of my own making. Set me on the rock that is higher than I. I pray that Your Spirit will fill my life with the fresh air of Your love. Help me to seek Your truth because in Your truth there is perfect freedom. Freedom to serve You and love You as I so long to do. Crush the enemy that seeks to keep me in the confines of the pit. Help me to see through the Truth of Your word all of his schemes. When I am confronted with temptation help me to choose the good path, the ancient way. I long to live in the freedom that serving You can bring.

Amen - thank You for hearing my cry.