The Plumbline

I have been around those recovering from alcohol or drug addiction and heard them say things like, "When I hit rock bottom..." or "My rock bottom came when..."  Their meaning was that life had to reach a certain 'low' in order for them to realize just how far they had fallen into the hold of their addiction. They are indicating that 'bottom' isn't the same for everyone - theirs was different than yours or mine. There is a point for each of us, though, when we finally realize we have 'hit bottom' in some area of our life and that 'bottom' feeling leaves us desirous of getting help to finally be free of the pit we have dug for ourselves. It may not be addiction to a substance, but we all have a 'bottom' in terms of something we need to say a final "no" to in our lives. It may be some secret addiction like pornography, or something very 'out there' like the use of food to deal with some sense of frustration ...

Have you ever noticed how quickly you can dig a pit and easily fall into it - then how slowly and difficultly you find your way out of it again? The pit wasn't hard to dig. It might have started by a little rut we created by walking in the same place for just a little too long - longer than we might have wanted to and without paying much attention to the fact that forward progress just wasn't being made. Then in a matter of time, that small rut began to take on the form of a deeper rut which "morphed" into some pit of astronomical proportion! There you were, smack-dab in the midst of a pit, surrounded by the four walls you actually dug yourself - maybe without even noticing! I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire.  He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many ...

Ruined lives surround us no matter where we live.  People start out well, but somehow through a series of misadventures and wrong turns, their lives end up in a state of shambles, almost like falling down shacks.  Along the way, they may have heard advice to not take a certain path, or to turn away from what they were pursuing with such earnest.  In ignoring the warnings, they compounded their misfortune and increased their speed of decline.  Now, at the bottom of the pit, they live with nothing more than regrets and the constant wondering of the "what if".  The worrisome part of their decline into the pit is the possibility of them having blamed God for the decline - for putting them in the pit.  In reality, it was their failure to heed warnings, to turn away from their self-directed pursuits.  Why is it we blame God when things end in ruins?  He isn't a God of "ruin", but of "hope", "possibilities", and even "impossibilities".   ...