“And they took him and threw him into the pit.”

—Genesis 37:24

We seem to think that God’s plan will keep us out of the pit, but that’s not always true.

Sometimes we dig our own pits, and we usually know when that’s the case. But sometimes we have no idea how we got there or why it’s happening. Even then, we can trust that the Lord’s hand is still working.

Daniel was thrown into the pit of lions because of his devotion to the Lord (Daniel 6).

Joseph was thrown into the pit by his brothers because he saw a vision from the Lord (Genesis 37).

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the pit of fire because they refused to worship anyone but God (Daniel 3).

Jeremiah was thrown into a pit to starve because he spoke the truth God told him (Jeremiah 38).

But what man means for evil, God means for good (Genesis 50:20).

There are many types of pits we could be in—isolation, abandonment, betrayal, illness, persecution, anxiety, financial trouble, or simple uncertainty.

And even if we’ve dug our own pit, we don’t have to despair, because God is still our hope . . . the only one who can redeem, forgive, rescue, and give us a renewed purpose (Psalm 40; Psalm 103).

Being in a pit is objectively bad, but the Lord will work good through the bad for believers as he promises he will in Romans 8:28.

We hold fast to him and remember he’s still working in our circumstances. The pit isn’t fun, but God hasn’t forgotten or abandoned us. He’s promised he never will (Hebrews 13:5).

The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

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