All Things New

This spring when I opened our pool it was as green and swampy as it could be.  There could have been alligators in there and I wouldn’t have been able to tell!   It took a couple of weeks to turn it back to the crystal clear water that it should be.  That dirty, swampy, green sludge reminded me of a pit.  As I looked at it and started figuring out what I would have to do to clear it up I knew it would be a process, much like my own pit experience had been.  There would be things I would have to add to it, things I would have to take away from it, time I would have to put into it, things I would learn to keep it clear and to prevent it from turning swampy again.  Are you getting my analogy?  Did you know that to get out of whatever pit you are in you will have to: add things, take away things, spend time there and learn things to prevent staying there?   Thankfully, we serve a God who can take our swampy lives and make them clean and clear.

2 Corinthians 5:17(NLT) “ This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

If you are thinking that your pit was too big and too bad and the things that went on while in that dark, swampy place are unforgivable, you are mistaken.  No pit is too deep for God!   I think the hard part about the pit is that when you are there you are struggling so hard just to keep your head above water, to breathe, that you feel like you can’t handle cleaning up that pit.  Like I said above: getting rid of stuff, adding stuff, learning, etc... it all just seems too overwhelming.  

That is where God comes in.  He will meet us right in the pit.  He will wade down into that swampy water and stand right beside us, He will hold us up above water when we can’t do it anymore.  He will help us learn, He will be patient, He will show us the way out of that pit.  BUT, we have to be willing to do the work.  We have to be willing to look for Him and His plan for us and what He wants us to do, to make the changes necessary. 

All Things New

BY:  Sidewalk Prophets

“There’s a place deep inside of me -No one else has ever seen

And I fight to keep the light -From reaching the darkness within me

I’ve been holding onto secrets -That I can never tell

Cause if I did, then you’d know -That I was really someone else

Can you forgive, will you forget -All these wrongs and make me whole again

You restore the broken, You heal the sinner’s heart

You make all things new, all things new

On the cross Your love was spoken, You even wore the scars

To make all things new, all things new

You have carried all the pain -So heavy on my soul

Lift me up, and hold me close -You will never let me go

I should have know the walls I built were never strong enough

To keep You, from reaching me -Nothing’s greater than Your love

Can you forgive, will You forget - All these wrongs and make me whole again

You release the chains of all my yesterdays

And I am not the same, Lord -I am not the same

From the beginning till the end of time -You love will never change 

You make all things new, all things new -From the sand upon the shoreline

To the stars up in the sky -You make all things new, all things new”

Psalm 40:1-3  “ 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.”

God promises to always be with us.  He never promised this life would be easy, just that He would walk the journey with us.   Stop and think about those verses above, picture it with me.  Circumstances of life have placed you in a pit and you are sitting at the very bottom.  It is dark, smelly, lonely, dirty and you are exhausted in every way and feel like it is an effort to even breathe.  You look up and cry out for the Lord to help you.  You wait.  The God who created the Heavens and Earth hears your cry.  He hears your voice amidst all creation and in His perfect timing, He turns to you. He looks down in the pit with compassion in his eyes, He climbs down to the bottom of that pit and extends His nail-scarred hand to help you stand and then He lifts you out.  He cares.  Not only does He lift you out of the pit but He sets your feet on solid ground and helps you to put one foot in front of the other.  He helps you face all the things that got you into that pit in the first place. He holds your arm and guides you along.  He is with you.  He is right beside you.  He knows you are tired, discouraged, broken and He steadies you as you press on through the hard journey.  Then after a time, He heals your wounded heart and He places within you a new song. It is a Hymn of praise to The One who rescued you from your despair.  He has never let you go and He is walking beside you as you start to sing His praises. I think He smiles. 

Isn’t it a beautiful picture?  God, who is so big, reaches right down to us, so small.  He knows everything about us and loves us anyway and wants to help us through the hard times, help us to be better.  It is hard to fathom such love and care even when we fail Him over and over. He is so faithful to us. He is unchanging. 

So, if you are in a green, slimy pit, cry out to the Lord, then wait and you will see Him turn to you.  He will lift you out.  When He stands you on solid ground you will have to deal with some things, but He will be with you.  The effects of the pit will need to be dealt with, but in the end your pit will become clean and clear and as you move forward God will change you, clean you up and you will not be able to stop from singing His praises.  Trust Him with your life.  

“O praise The One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead!” (K. Stanfill)

So, until I write again I encourage you to:  Be Strong, Stand Firm and Believe in Miracles!  

Our God is a God of Miracles!     

Count Your Blessings,