Out of the Pit
👤 Geoff
Sometimes in life things go wrong. We make bad decisions, we allow self-interest to dictate what we do with disastrous results. In Psalm 103: 3-4 God is described as he ‘who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit.’ I like that! Generally when we mess up, we are expected to clean up our act, to get ourselves together, to sort ourselves out. This sometimes leads us to expect that God would only be interested in us when we’ve pulled our socks up. Fortunately, God knows that we are not in any position to help ourselves. He doesn’t just ‘redeem our lives after the pit’, he rescues us from it. He comes to us in the pit, not once we’ve managed to get out of it. He gets down with us in the pit and leads us out of its depths.
There is a story of a man who fell into a pit, originally by Kenneth Filkens, but much added to. Maybe you can add to it too, but as you do give thanks to the God who redeems your life from the pit!
A man fell into a pit and couldn't get himself out. A subjective person came along and said, 'I feel for you down there.' A Pharisee arrived and said, 'Only bad people fall into pits.' An optimist said, 'Things could get worse.' A pessimist said, 'Things will get worse.' A realist said, 'That's really a deep pit you’re in there.' An idealist said: ‘The world shouldn't have pits.’ A self-pitying person said, 'You haven't seen anything until ou've seen my pit.' A news reporter wanted the exclusive story on his pit. A scientist calculated the pressure necessary to get him out of the pit. A geologist told him to appreciate the rock strata in the pit. An environmentalist came by and said, ‘Hey, be careful of that pit.’ An economist came along and said, ‘What pit?’ A professor gave him a lecture on 'The elementary principles of the pit.' An analyst said, ‘It's probably your parents' fault you are in that pit.’ A psychiatrist said, ‘Let's talk about the pit.’ An Inland Revenue inspector asked him if he was paying taxes on the pit. A county councillor asked if he had a permit to dig the pit. An evasive person came along and avoided the subject of the pit altogether. Buddha said, ‘Your pit is only a state of mind.’ A Hindu said, ‘This pit is for purging you and making you more perfect.’ Confucius said, ‘If you had listened to me, you would never have fallen into that pit.’ A Humanist said, ‘Reach down inside to your inner strength and pull yourself out of that pit.’
And Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit.
Geoff Cook, 06/07/2026
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