sub-pits

I feel like I can't get out of Psalm 18...but I don't really want to leave. It is so interesting to me, especially as I try to hear it personally. The poetic descriptions of God and His power are...well, powerful! This past Saturday I attended a Beth Moore simulcast conference and she spoke primarily from this chapter. God has been revealing to me more and more of Himself through this passage since then.

These are some of the verses I've been chewing on for the past few days...

Psalm 18:3-6

3 I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies.

4 The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.

6 In my distress I called to the LORD;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.

Psalm 18:16-19

16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.

17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.

18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the LORD was my support.

19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.

I may not call my struggles, bouts of depression, sin, poor choices, disappointing or devastating circumstances the "cords of death" or "cords of the grave" but that is what they are. Anything that tries to/succeeds to wrap itself around me, drag me down, trap me and keep me stuck...buried even...is a cord of death around me.

That is such a vivid picture for me when I imagine cords constraining, constricting; as Beth said, "the tighter our space becomes." But, through His deliverance, He brings me into a "spacious place!" His way sets us free! (vs. 16-19)

Ok...I know this...now what am I going to do about it...what does this look like for me...right here, right now in my dirty kitchen, laundry flooded living room, and crumb covered floors?
I'm still trying to figure out what it looks like for my God to scatter my enemies, rescue me from my greedy enemy. What will it look like as He reaches down, takes hold of me, draws me out and sets me on solid ground, giving me an open field to run in?

He has given me a taste of this in the past. I've been in deeper pits...and I've been freed from them...but sometimes I wonder, have I just crawled back to one...maybe a more shallow one but still an entangling hole? Or does my pit have "sub-pits!" I wish I could draw a picture of what I see in my mind right now. I reach up with my weak arm, allow Him to take hold of it with His strong arm and begin lifting me out. But then, as I emerge from that pit, I look around and think, "ok...this looks better...whew!...I'll just let go here." So, I'm out of a pit but not out of the "pits" yet. :) Now I'm beginning to see the bright spot at the top...smell the fresh air and feel the coolness of life truly released from the pit. I want that!

How about you? Any thoughts on your "cords of death" that Satan wants to use to bury you alive and keep you from a life-changing-joy-giving-strength-filling God? I'm thinking that for most of us those cords are things that at first glance don't appear to be a "big deal."

What about being brought out into a "spacious place"...anyone care to share?