Monday, June 28, 2010

Rescued from the Pit

Wow! (I hope you can feel my excitement through cyberspace!) During my scripture study this morning I found gold!!!!

If you’ve been reading this blog for long you know I’ve been studying and writing about Living in Truth where joy and faith and love abound. When you don’t Live in Truth you fall into the Pit of Illusion where despair and discouragement hold you in bondage. I thought I had made up the term “Pit of Illusion,” but this morning while studying I came across this verse of scripture: “Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions” (Ps 107:19-20).

As part of my study I looked up the verse in Hebrew which our Old Testament was translated from and found that the word the King James translators recorded as “destructions” is shchiyth (prounounced shekh-eeth’), which means pit. Thus a more accurate translation of verse twenty would be, “He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their pit.”

And that sheds light on what it means to Live in Truth. When we slip into the Pit, we can cry out to the Lord to save us from the vexing stress we are in, and He will send his word to heal us and deliver us from the Pit of Illusion. The word comes as we read scripture, read the words of the brethren, or listen to the still small voice within. The word sent from God, however it comes, can rescue us from the Pit!

2 comments:

Jenny said...

I can feel your excitement!!! Thanks for sharing with us all the extra things you learn!

Wendi said...

That happened to me yesterday. I kept complaining about how it wasn't fair that my medicine makes me feel so fatigued. I was so groggy on Sunday morning that I couldn't function for quite awhile and I ended up being very late to church--and that made me feel very disappointed in myself. But then I studied about the Martin and Willie handcart companies from several General Conference talks this morning and my perspective came back. Because, even though that medicine makes me feel very fatigued, it has also helped me to feel happiness again. And no matter how hard my life gets, it will always be easier than those Pioneers had it!