Get Out of That Pit

You can opt for God. Pitching every other plan, you can opt for God. Thanks-but-no-thanks to every other deliverer, you can opt for God. Without having a clue how it works, you can opt for God. Without knowing the Old Testament from the New, you can opt for God. Not just for His help, but for His entire Person! The whole of God.

Oh, the wonder of the One who comes as Three! You can opt for the Father who reigns as King over every intricate detail in the universe and can micromanage a complicated life like yours and mine. He who could halt the sun in the noon sky if that’s what your victory would take. He who could hurl a star like a stone at your enemy should he get in His way.

You can opt for the Son who paid your debt in full, not just to deliver you from earth to heaven when you die, but also from pit to pavement while you live. In Him, you have the full rights of sonship or daughtership, including the right to live wildly in victory. Do you hear what I’m saying to you? I don’t care what kind of addiction you’ve had or what kind of places you’ve been, you have as much right to flourish in Christ’s abundance as Billy Graham. He’d tell you the same thing. No head hanging is necessary unless Christ has crowned you with so much love and compassion that the weight of it sometimes bows your head in joyful worship and gratitude.

You can opt for the Holy Spirit who first hovered over the Genesis waters and brought order out of chaos. The One who infuses any willing vessel with throne-spilled power from the inside out. The One who enables a people bereft of holiness to be holy by His very presence within them. The One who — at our invitation — seeps like water under every closed door of our souls, filling each empty place with Himself until the flood rises and the door is swept from its hinges... and we are utterly open before Him.

The beautiful thing about opting for God is that you are opting for everything He brings. Because He is infinite, you will never reach the end of all He offers of Himself.

Nothing on earth is like fully engaging with God.

Nothing. Once you taste what I’ve tasted, nothing in the physical realm can touch it. Yet everything in the physical realm takes on brilliant color because of it.

God’s love is better than life. No one compares.

If you’re willing to engage God as your deliverer from the pit, the full-throttle relationship you develop with Him will be the most glorious thing that has ever happened to you. Far more glorious than the deliverance itself. If you will take God up on what He offers so that you can live in victory, you will find thankfulness in your heart for every person who let you down. For ultimately, their failure set you up for this most ecstatic relationship you will ever experience.

If you’re willing. Here comes the challenge. If you decide to take the challenge, beloved, you are on your way out of that pit. Here’s the deal:

God wants everything you’ve got.

Uncontested priority. Every egg in one basket. All your weight on one limb. This very moment He has His fingers gripped on your chin, saying, “Right here, Child. Look right here. Don’t look right or left. Stare straight into My face. I am your Deliverer. There is none like Me.”

God will be your complete Deliverer or nothing at all.

That’s the one rule of divine rescue. This I can tell you from both Scripture and experience:

God absolutely refuses to share His glory. Anyone who shares His position as deliverer in your life is sharing His glory.

God won’t stand for that. Sooner or later, someone’s going to back off, and you don’t want it to be God. He may use any number of people in your life — friends, a counselor, a family member, or fellow believer — to come alongside and encourage as part of His process. But He alone must deliver you... or you will never be free. How badly do you want out of that pit? And out of the cycle that draws you back into it? If you take on the tunnel-vision determination of Isaiah 50:7, you’re headed out.

Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

Are you ready to get out of your pit? Really ready? Are you willing to give God everything you’ve got? To choose Him above all else?