LightGrams
November 1, 2018
Volume 22, Number 39
An 18-year-old man was found acting like, um, a teenager yesterday in DeLeon Springs, Florida. He and two friends had been mowing an area when they discovered a well. They talked about climbing down into the hole, just to be able to say they had done it. The youngest in the group actually made the descent, about 30 feet down. He then had the sickening realization that he couldn’t get himself out.
(I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I’ve done similar things in my younger years. As a teenager I would tag along with my older brother and some cousins to explore caves in the area of Southeastern Kentucky in which I grew up. These were not commercially developed caverns, but “wild” caves. Sometimes we got into spots that made me wonder, “Will we get out of here?” Thankfully, we always did.)
The teenager’s friends tried to pull him out of the well using ropes tied to an SUV. When that didn’t work, they called 911. A fire rescue technical team soon had the young man out, and he suffered only some scrapes and bruises.
We read of another teenager (probably) in the Bible who was unable to remove himself from a hole. Joseph was thrown into an empty pit by his older brothers, who had grown to hate him. They first talked about killing him, but decided to make some money by selling him to traders who happened by. “… so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him” (Genesis 37:28).
Joseph was taken to Egypt, and it was many years before he saw his family again. When that time came, Joseph was the second most powerful man in Egypt, and he had his opportunity to get revenge. But his outlook was now very different: “… you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (Genesis 50:20). Could we not therefore say that it was God who really pulled Joseph from that pit?
David had a similar experience. In Psalm 40:1,2 he wrote: “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.”
David’s pit was almost certainly a figure of speech which pointed to a tense situation of some sort. It’s an image that certainly communicates, though. We’ve all been down in a dark hole of some kind, hoping and praying that we’ll somehow be pulled to safety.
If you’re in that deep hole, look up, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him” (Hebrews 7:25).
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
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Copyright, 2018, Timothy D. Hall. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New King James Version (Copyright, 1990, Thomas Nelson, Inc.).
“LightGrams” is produced by the Central Church of Christ, 2722 Oakland Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37601, and is written by Tim Hall, minister. It is sent free of charge every Thursday to all who request it. To subscribe or to receive more information, write to “Tim@GraceMine.org” (our E-mail address), to the U.S. mail address above, or call (423) 282-1571.
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