From The Pits To Praise

From the Pits to Praise

Occasionally we all find ourselves in the pits of discouragement, depression or disappointment. A general sense of hopelessness and despair overwhelms us when we find ourselves in the pits of helpless feelings. When we are in the pits of life we need the help of God to deliver us from emotional, mental, financial, or social low predicaments. Sometimes, the Lord delivers us directly but other times, He uses certain people.

Quote: I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.

C.S. Lewis.

Remember that God wants to move you from the pits to praise with His mighty power to deliver. There are several lessons we can learn from David in Psalm 40 to help us move from the pits of despair to the pinnacle of praise, power and higher perspective:

1. Patiently wait on the Lord every morning in your devotions to find His overcoming help to do deliver you from emotional, mental or relation pits. We can claim the blessed promise from Isaiah 41:10, "They who wait (meditate, look to and hope in) upon the Lord, will renew their strength. They will run and not be weary they will walk and not faint." Waiting on the Lord requires discipline but also the confidence that God is greater than any problem and He wants to use these down times to draw us closer to Himself.

Illustration: "Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind."

Leonardo da Vinci.

2. Praise God in advance for His power, His deliverance and His plan to lift your head. David wrote, "The glory and the lifter of my head. For you Oh Lord art a shield for me. the glory and the lifter of my head. I cried unto the Lord with my voice and He heard me out of His holy hill." (Psa 121) Praise God for His problem solving abilities. He has the ability to help overcome any problem you may be facing with His wisdom, knowledge and resources. He always finds a way when there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see. He will find a way for you out of your predicament, problem or pit.

3. Thank God for the way He has delivered godly people in the past and know He will do the same for you. David recalled, "He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along." (Psa 40:2)

Illustration: I remember as a new Christian singing "Love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help, love lifted me." The song leader said, Let us replace the word love with Christ and sing that chorus again. That wonderful song has lifted me out of despair, depression and discouragement more times than I can count. I know it is Jesus Christ who lifts me out of my sense of hopelessness, sadness and weakness. When it seems that nothing else will help you, remember to sing the song, "Christ lifted me. Christ lifted me. When nothing else could help. Christ lifted me!" We can be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, like the apostle Paul as we sing with confidence the new song of Christ’s lifting power.

4. Be assured that God will bring you up out of any rut, depression or difficult that you are in. He will set you on a new foundation, opportunity and launching pad because He is the God of new beginnings. He will establish your way as He provides you with a new energy to embark on greater projects for the qualitative and quantitative advancement of His kingdom and righteousness. David wrote, "He has given me a NEW song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be astounded. They will put their trust in the Lord." (Psa. 40:3,4) Not only will the Lord deliver you but He will bring others to Himself as a result of your experience of deliverance.

Illustration: Most people are more inspired when they see someone delivered from their times of testing. When the miners were trapped in a watery mine in Pennsylvania for 11 days, the entire USA news media gave 24 hour coverage to the plight of 9 brave miners. The entire nation rejoiced when all of the men were lifted up of the depths of their watery graves, faces blackened, in yellow rescue tubes, to the rejoicing of hundreds of millions around the world. All the men gave credit to their rescuers, but they recognized that it was the grace of God that lifted them up out of their slimy pit. Sometimes the Lord allows us to be trapped with no way out just to show others His power through our experience of deliverance. He allowed Joseph to be thrown into a pit where he was subsequently imprisoned in Egypt for 18 years. Yet, in Gen 50:20 Joseph wrote about his brothers, "You meant to throw me in the pit for evil, but God turned it for good for the saving of many lives."