All Posts /

Plans to Give You Hope and a Future

Looking Up When Life Is Looking Down by Beth Moore 9781404105140

jeremiah-29-11

Lord, I’m choosing to believe that You can and will redeem the years I have spent in my pit.

In our Christian subculture, we think a pit of sin is the only kind of pit there is. But we have to think much more broadly. For starters, I see in God’s Word three ways we can get into a pit.

First, you know you are in a pit when you feel stuck, and you can’t get yourself out. David’s pit was “slimy,” muddy, and miry (Psalm 40:2), and Jeremiah “sank down” in his (Jeremiah 38:6).

Second, you know you are in a pit when you can’t stand up . . . against your enemy. In other words, a pit is an early (figurative) grave that Satan digs for you in hopes he can bury you alive. Satan can’t make you stay there, but God will not make you leave.

And you know you are in a pit when you’ve lost vision . . . because pits have no windows. In that darkness, we can no longer see things that may have once been obvious to us. Also, the close confinement of a pit exhausts us with the endless echo of self-absorption. We can’t see out, so we turn our sights in, and that nearsightedness breeds hopelessness.

In what ways, if any, are you feeling stuck . . . or caught in the mud . . . or sinking down?

You don’t have to stay in your pit, but maybe that pit has gotten way too familiar and comfortable.

’Fess up: what have you come to (almost) like about your pit? And what might God have for you that is better?

Isn’t it crazy that even the painful but familiar can be comfortable? It may be comfortable, but it’s never God’s best for you!

Thank You that You are a loving God who wants what’s best for me — and a wise God who knows what’s best for me! And this pit isn’t it, Lord. So please help me get out. Start showing me how to get out—help me want to get out!

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

* * *

Your Turn

Are you stuck and unable to move forward towards God’s plans for you? Consider Beth’s questions above. What are your responses? We could love to hear from you, so please leave a comment on our blog! ~ Devotionals Daily