Look Up: 35 Days to Finding Hope in Dark PlacesSample

The Pit of Failure

As crazy as it sounds, sometimes no one puts us in the pit: we climb in on our own.

As Jesus followers, when we sin, we know God still loves us and has saved us, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t repercussions for our wrong actions. When we betray God’s best for us, we have to live through the negative consequences, however trivial or serious they may be.

Admittedly, this isn’t a popular idea. No one wants to be disciplined, let alone by the God of the Universe. But, it’s demonstrated in one of the most iconic stories in Scripture: Jonah.

Jonah ends up in the pit of a whale’s stomach not because anyone put him there, but because he chose to run from God. When Jonah is thrown overboard, he must have been expecting to drown. But then, Free Willy shows up and saves the day. In Jonah’s story, this very strange pit is a picture of God’s grace.

Though the rest of his story is a roller coaster, to say the least, it’s clear that Jonah undergoes some change of heart while in the pit. He calls out to God asking for a second chance, which God grants. He then goes on an incredibly successful evangelism trip in a hostile environment, the city of Nineveh.

In this story and ours, though dark and scary, the pit of failure does its job. When we live through the negative consequences of our wrong actions, the solution is not to turn more inward, but rather to abandon the self-centeredness that got us there and look up to serve those around us.