The Pit
In Day 2, I began my story for you, hi-lighting 3 defining moments. Before I finish my story, I want to stop and talk about something that I did extremely well, in the situation, I found myself in. That is, I very quickly dug myself a pit when I experienced my Family Offender crisis. It is so easy to do when we focus on how a particular situation is affecting us personally. The crazy thing is that we walk right into the pit with our eyes wide open. Once we get in the pit, it’s hard to get out.
We lived on a farm, when I was a teenager. One day, my dad sent me to shovel the manure out of the hog barn. Silly me, I set off to do what I was asked to do, with my flip-flops on my feet. What I did was scoop the manure directly out the door onto the ground (silly me again). At one point, I stepped out the door into the manure and (oh no, silly me again) I got my foot stuck in the manure. I struggled for awhile to pull my foot out. Finally I pulled my foot out of the stinky stuff, but lost my flip-flop. If I had the correct equipment on (a pair of boots), and would have shoveled out away from the door (instead of scooping directly outside the door), I might not have struggled so hard to pull my foot out, and would not have lost my shoe. I might also add that I had to shovel, a second time, away from the door. Yes, Silly Me!
The first thing I learned about the pit I had dug for myself was that the equipment I used to handle the situation, was faulty. I made the mistake of thinking I could fix this person, and could handle the situation myself. In reality, I was relying on myself instead of relying on the Lord and I was just moving the stinky mess around.
Read the following passages of Scripture and fill in the blanks.
Psalm 69:1-2
“_ _ _ _ me, O God, for the waters have come up to my _ _ _ _. I sink in the miry depths, where there is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.” NIV
The second thing I learned about the pit was that If I had not been focusing on myself (how the situation was affecting me and my world), I would not have dug the pit. This is called pride, which is, totally, at the opposite end of the spectrum from humility (which we will discuss later)
Hebrews 12:2
“Let us _ _ _ our eyes on _ _ _ _ _, the _ _ _ _ _ _ and _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ of our faith, who for the joy set before him _ _ _ _ _ _ _ the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” NIV
The third thing I learned about the pit was that revenge is not a good thing. What happens in a situation like this? We keep running the offense over and over in our minds until we make it an issue in our hearts. (see Proverbs 4:23)
Romans 12:16-19
“Live in _ _ _ _ _ _ _ with one another. Do not be _ _ _ _ _, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge…” NIV
This entry was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 12:51 am and is filed under Bible Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
