Out of the Pit!
By Tony Silveira
Other Studies at http://www.carismachurch.com
Jeremiah 2:13
"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.
Isaiah 35:6 tells us, “For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.” Jesus came into this world with a river of life in order to make alive our dry and dusty lives. He came to wash away the filth of all of our sins and give us eternal life that we would take root in him and be in full bloom for all eternity, as a beautiful desert blossom.
Jeremiah talked about to evil things
They have left springs of living water
They have dug cisterns for themselves, which cannot hold water.
Illustration
“Many Palestinians were dependent upon cisterns, laboriously carved from the rock. Cistern water at best is flat and tasteless; it is easily contaminated with various types of growth that produce a smelly scum. When the cistern is cracked, even the stale water leeches away; the person who turns to the cracked cistern is totally disappointed. The religious forms of idolatry might look quite impressive, but they did not contain the spirit of the living God.”-Andrew W. Blackwood Jr.
Jeremiah pointed out the evil things that those people where doing and some years latter they decided to punish him for prophecyzing agains the city.
Jeremiah 38
6 So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon or cistern pit [in the charge] of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard; and they let Jeremiah down [into the pit] with ropes. And in the dungeon or cistern pit there was no water, but only mire, and Jeremiah sank in the mire.
1. Sometimes bad things happen to good people!
Illustration
Sir Alexander Mackenzie is a Canadian hero. An early fur trader and explorer, he accomplished a magnificent feat when he led an expedition across Canada from Fort Chippewyan on Lake Athabasca to the Pacific Ocean. His incredible journey was completed in 1793, 11 years before Lewis and Clark began their famous expedition to the west. Mackenzies earlier attempt in 1789, however, had been a major disappointment. His explorers had set out in an effort to find a water route to the Pacific. The valiant group followed a mighty river (now named the Mackenzie) with high hopes, paddling furiously amid great danger. Unfortunately, it didnt empty into the Pacific, but into the Arctic Ocean. In his diary, Mackenzie called it the River of Disappointment. You know, many of us find ourselves paddling up rivers of disappointments of our own.
Psalm 34:19
19 A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;
Jeremiah was thrown into the pit and he hit the bottom. Have you ever hit the bottom? The reason why we hit the bottom may be related with circunstances of life, persecution, like in the case of Jeremiah, but most of the times we hit the bottom because of sin in our lifes.
Jeremiah hit the mud and started to sink, however it came to a point were he had solid ground. I have some good news for you. Maybe you are at the bottom like Jeremiah but you are alive and God kept you with your head out of the mud so you are still able to cry for help.
The Roman historian Josephus wrote that the cisterns in that region were many times used to punish people and that usualy were 20 to 30 feet deep and that the layer of mud was up to the chin of an adult person. Jeremiah was at the bottom but the Lord allowed him to survive and left his head out of the mud so he was able to cry for help.
Illustration
The story is told of a former world chess champion player who was taken by a friend to see a picture which had been hung in a famous art gallery, and which had attracted much interest. The artist had portrayed a young man sitting despairingly at a chessboard, while opposite him sat the devil with a look of malicious triumph on his face. The title of the picture was a single expressive word: "Checkmated". For a long time the champion player stood before the picture, his brow furrowed by concentration. Suddenly his voice rang out in the art gallery: "Bring me a chessboard. I can save him yet!" Sure enough, the mastermind had discovered the way out. And just as surely Christ can give victory to the person who will trust him implicitly. Naturally speaking, there may not seem to be a way out, but never limit God for he’s the supply of our comfort.
2. God is looking for Compassionate People!
Do you have compassion for others?
Jeremiah 38
7 Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian [a Cushite], one of the eunuchs who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon or cistern pit; and while the king was then sitting in the Gate of Benjamin,
8 Ebed-melech went out of the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying,
9 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon or cistern pit; and he is liable to die of hunger and is [as good as] dead in the place where he is, for there is no more bread left in the city.
Ebed-melech means: serveant of the King. This man was a euneuch, an African man that had a job probably as one of the chiefs of the King’s harem. His job was probably close to the cistern were Jeremiah was. Some people don’t care if the others are at the bottom of he pit. Theywill just say: “who cares?” or “I have my own life and my own problems to are about, but Ebed-melech cared about it and he couldn’t have peace in this situation.
God is looking for people that are compassionate and that feel bothered when they see men at the bottom of the pit. This man took some risks and did something about this situation. He went to the King and publicly asked for mercy. Probably those men that put Jeremiah on the cistern were there but he was bold enough to intercede for mercy befor the King. In the same way God is looking for compassionate people that are willing to make a change and intercede for those people that are in desperate situations.
Compassionate people will put themselves at risk in order to save others. There is a price to pay if you are a person that feels bothered when you see that you have a person struggling to survive out of the pit. When you have compassion for others you cannot continue with your life when a person is at the bottom of the well.
3. God is looking for people that ACT!
Jeremiah 38
10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with you and raise Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon or cistern pit before he dies.
11 So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king [to a room] under the treasury, and took along from there old rags and worn-out garments and let them down by ropes into the dungeon or cistern pit to Jeremiah.
Ebed-Melech went with 30 men (it was a tuff job). He took some old rags and worn-out garnments and used them to save Jeremiah and bring him out of the well. God is looking for people that are willing to use anything to bring others out of the pit.
Some people give all kinds of excuses to leave others at the bottom. They say: “I need to learn more of the Bible” or “After I become a leader I will do something about it”. However Ebed-melech was creative and used some old rags. Use whatever you have and the Lord will bless you in order to save souls.
Maybe you feel sometimes that you are useless and that you cannot speak to others you feel like you are an old rag, however God can still use you to save people out of the miry clay!
4. God is looking for people that Care!
Jeremiah 38
12 And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put now these old rags and worn-out garments under your armpits under the ropes. And Jeremiah did so.
13 So they drew up Jeremiah with the ropes and took him up out of the dungeon or cistern pit; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
Ebed-Melech didn’t just care about saving Jeremiah but he was very carefull in the way he did that rescue. He knew that 30 men pulling a rope could hurt him. Probably he saw simillar situations in the past so he knew that he needed to use those rags in order to protect him from beeing burned by the ropes or having a dislocated shoulder.
God is looking not only for loving people, people that are willing to take risks and that take a stand and act, but he is looking for carefull people that will be able to rescue people from the pit without hurt.
After the rescue Ebed-melech kept Jeremiah in the court of the guard wich was the safest place in the palace. He wanted to make sure that those enemies wouldn’t threw him back to the pit. Consolidation is the proccess of rescuing people from the pit and keeping them at the King’s palace, well guarded and protected.
Conclusion
Are you one of these people that God is looking for?
Do you care and have compassion for the lost? For the people on the pit?
Are you willing to do something about it or do you just turn your face from them?
The Bible says that not only some people mocked Jesus at the Cross, but there where those that turned away their face from Jesus at the Cross. Every time you turn your face away from the people at the bottom of the pit the heart of Jesus is saddned. Do you need to ask for forgiveness and start caring for others?
Are you at the bottom of the pit?
Or maybe you are the one at the bottom of the pit and you are crying for help. You didn’t came her by accident but the Lord sent you the people that are willing to pull you up. Give your heart to Jesus today and you will find here a safe place.
Illustration
A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule "braying", or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well were worth the trouble of saving. Instead he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened...and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery. Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back...a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back.....HE SHOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP! This he did blow after blow. "Shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up!" he repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed the old mule fought "panic" and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP! It was not long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, STEPPED TRIUMPHANTLY OVER THE WALL OF THAT WELL. What seemed like it would bury him, actually blessed him.....all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.
THAT’S LIFE! If we face our problems, respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness or self-pity...The adversities that come along to bury us usually have within them the potential to benefit and bless us!
I’m sure that Jeremiah kept praying to get out of that whole! The mule came out in a different way, however we should learn that it doesn’t matter how we’re going to jump out of the pit but that we need to understand that we need help to do it. God is here to help you to get out of the bottom of the well!
There is no situation so chaotic that God cannot from that situation, create something that is surpassingly good. He did it at the creation. He did it at the cross. He is doing it today.
David also knew about the pit of miry clay:
Psalm 40:2
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on arock and gave me a firm place to stand.
Job also knew the pit of mud:
Job 33:28
He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit and I will live to enjoy the light.’
In the New Testament the disciples had similar experiences. You will eventualy feel that you’ve reached the bottom, but the Lord is here to rescue you and He sends us here at this Church to send you The Rope!
*(A part of this message was inspired in a study by Larry Stockstill - 2003)
(c) copyright 2003 - TONY SILVEIRA, Charisma Church, all rights reserved
Tons of other Studies at http://www.carismachurch.com
