Real Hope: Suffering & Trialsনমুনা

## THE VALLEY AND THE PIT Sometimes life feels thoroughly boggy. Like the one who can’t swim, we feel like we’re forever trying to get to the edge of the pool to haul ourselves out of this all-encompassing chaos, but we’re flailing and breathless. We don’t have the strength or ability to find a way out. Sometimes, we’re in the valley (Psalm 23), surrounded by insurmountable obstacles and darkness, yet fully confident of God’s protection and guidance. In one situation, God walks with us through our challenge, and in the other, He hears our cry and pulls us up and out of it. There’s a great difference between the valley and the pit: the pit is overwhelmingly suffocating and hopeless. In the valley, stuff is going down, but it will not affect our focus or stance in God. In the valley, our faith is refined, and we mature; we can handle it as we trust in God. In the pit, we are entirely and utterly lost. The great encouragement in Psalm 40 is that if you find yourself in a situation of absolute powerlessness and despair, He does hear your cry, and He will help. David’s one remaining ability was patience, and that’s what he used to sustain him until the hand of the Lord showed itself. Be patient. God knows. ##### written by LAURA BENNETT