Get Out of that Pit (Nashville:  Integrity Publishers, 2007) by Beth Moore

On Isaiah 30, Beth writes, “Israel didn’t need Egypt.  She needed God.  At his best, man can make a mighty fine man, but he’s a useless god.  Contrary to the serpent’s suggestion in the Garden, people simply can’t be divine.  The higher the expectation we have for them, the further they’re going to fall.  (And somehow, when it’s all over we feel disgraced.  Embarrassed.  Sometimes we don’t even know why.) 

People can help us but they can’t heal us.  People can lift us but they can’t carry us.  On occasion people can pull us out of a pit, but they cannot keep us out.  Nor can they set our feet upon a rock.  When we come out of a pit, if our idea of stability is standing on another human’s shoulders, his clay feet will inevitably crumble and we’ll take a tumble.  The job’s too big for him.

Since pit-dwelling is primarily a state of mind, effective deliverance also takes the ability to read people’s minds, because what we say often doesn’t match where we are.  Only God can hang with us through the length and depth of our need.  And the length and depth of our baloney.  Maybe I’m just talking about myself, but whether or not I realized it, I usually found a way to frame my pit to make me look like a victim.  Not only is God omniscient, His Word is “sharper than any double-edged sword” cutting our baloney so thin He can see straight through it.  He knows when we’re kidding others.  He knows when we’re kidding ourselves.  Knowing all we are, all we feel, and all we hide, God overflows with love and willingness to deliver us.  Even after Israel sought the help of the Egyptians, inviting the chastisement of God, Isaiah 30 testified, “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; / he rises to show you compassion” (v. 18). (95-96).

Rather than blogging baloney, we “can opt for God.”