Being In The Pit Isn't Pitiful

Last Sunday I woke up about my usual 8 am, in time for The Active Word with Pastor Bob Coy from Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale and he was talking about the Old Testament story of Joseph.  It is found in Genesis 37 and Genesis 39.

Joseph had been put in a pit by his brothers who were jealous of him and his favor with their father and wanted rid of him.  Eventually he ends up out of the pit but in Egypt in prison, another kind of pit.  Both times Joseph continued doing what he knew to be right in God's sight and didn't get frazzled about it all.

Pastor Bob went on to explain that unless a seed falls to the ground and dies it remains a single seed but if it dies then it brings forth a harvest of many seeds. John 12:24
Our lives are like that.  If we are only concerned with ourselves and the benefit for ourselves then that's all there is.  However, if we consider others before or instead of ourselves then there's more to share.

Joseph was put in a pit which was selfish on the brothers' part but God used Joseph to eventually save the brothers and their families when a famine came to the land.  Joseph had been rescued from the pit by a traveling caravan, ended up in Egypt, in pharaoh's house and in charge of the grain supply.... WOW~now that's GOD!  The Bible says that God knows the beginning from the end.  Isaiah 46:10 

Joseph was a type of seed while in the pit, a good seed, alone, covered by earth on all sides, with only sunlight above.  He continued living how he lived, being a righteous man, trusting and obeying God, with his eyes on the Lord, eventually grew OUT of the pit, all a part of God's plan for him, as well as for his family.  What was intended for evil was used by God to be good.  Genesis 50:20

I was struck by this illustration of a good seed being in an earthen pit with only the sunlight to look to and how eventually it can grow out of its pit.  Pastor Bob used the words, "being in the pit isn't pitiful".  My ears locked onto that phrase and I've been replaying them through my mind this week.

I don't feel like I'm in a pit but I know I am because I'm not where I want to be YET.  Better yet,  I know the formula for getting out:  keep my eyes on the light of God's Son Jesus, trust & obey what He tells me to do (or not do in my case), and eventually, by doing what is right, over time, I'll grow out of the pit I've put myself in through wrong choices and bad decisions over my lifetime, physically, financially, emotionally and even spiritually.

So, my encouraging word right now is:  Being in the Pit isn't Pitiful.  Praise the Lord!