June 10, 2010

The Psalm of the Day for this upcoming Sunday is Psalm 30. We will take a look at a few select verses:

"I will exalt you, O LORD, for you ... brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit. You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever." (Psalm 30: 1, 2b, 12)

Have you ever heard someone say, "well that's the pits?" My mother used to say it, and while I knew what she meant, I never really knew what it meant. I never knew what the origin of the phrase was. So, I decided to do some digging - not in an effort to try and dig an actual pit - but to try and dig up the origin of "the pits."

Some people call Milwaukee - "Mil-Town." Some people call Pittsburgh - "the Pitts." But that's not where the phrase "the pits" came from. If you were to ask a car racing fan what "the pits" are, they would probably tell you that it's short for "pit-stop." But that's not where the phrase "the pits" came from. If you were to ask a fruit aficionado what "the pits" are, their mind might turn to what they pull out of their cherries and peaches. But that's not where the phrase "the pits" came from. If you were to ask an orchestral musician what "the pits" are, they may respond by telling you that it's where they do their work when they are playing a musical or award show. But that's not where the phrase "the pits" came from.

The origin of "the pits" is actually a little more disgusting than all the previous stabs at the origin. It's hard to nail down an exact date, but many believe that the slang expression first came into use in the 1950's, and the expression is used for the very worst, the most degraded and depressing example of something. “Pits” in this sense is actually simply short for “armpits” - one of the stinky regions of the human body. It's a metaphor for anything that really really stinks.

Living in this sinful world, we often find ourselves in situations we could classify as "the pits." Sometimes we find ourselves in "the pits" of life - sometimes we find ourselves stinky, because we are sweating over a sin that we committed - we are sweating over a "pitfall" that we failed to avoid. Sin disturbs our peaceful relationship with God and leaves us uneasy and clammy. When we recognize that we are stinky like "the pits," when we recognize our sin and ask for his forgiveness, the LORD comes to us and says, "don't sweat it." "I have brought you up from the grave that you deserve to be in. I have spared you from the pit of hell." Because of the sinful world that we live in, unless Jesus returns in our lifetime, we will all eventually find ourselves in a pit that's about six feet deep. Maybe you have had a "near death" experience and were spared from going down into this pit. The writer of Psalm 30, David, experienced a number of times in his life where he narrowly escaped death and was spared from having to go down into this pit, but even David eventually found himself in the pit and in the grave. Pits like this will only hold their contents until the day that Jesus returns. The pit of hell will hold its contents forever. We say to our Savior: "O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever," that you have spared us from ever having to go into the pit of hell - the pit that we deserve to be in because of the stink of our sins.

Sometimes we find ourselves in "the pits" of life through no fault of our own. If you get sprayed by a skunk, you end up stinky because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. We get sprayed by a skunk when we have to deal with an untimely death in the family. We get sprayed by a skunk when we lose our job. We get sprayed by a skunk when we find ourselves plagued with an unpreventable illness or handicap. It may seem sometimes like we are in the wrong place at the wrong time, but actually we are in the exact right place at the exact right time, as we are exactly where God planned for us to be. "I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 29:11a). Remember when Joseph's brothers threw him into an actual pit? (Genesis 37) They later pulled him out of that pit, only to put him in another situation that we would call "the pits" when they sold him into slavery. While it may have felt like "the pits" at the time, Joseph realized that it was all a part of God's plans. When he was later reunited with his brothers, he told them, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done" (Genesis 50:20) God uses every situation that we may categorize as "the pits" for his greater good and he also uses those situations for our own greater good, to refine us and bring us closer to him. "...though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (I Peter 1:6b-7)

Even if we have to spend the rest of our lives in this world dealing with "the pits" of worldly situations, we can find comfort in the fact that the time we spend on this earth isn't even a visible speck on the time line of eternity, and our eternity, our future will NOT be spent in "the pits." Paul in Galatians tells us that the Fruits of the Spirit are: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23a) The 2nd in the list of these "pit less" fruits of the Spirit is joy. Because we have been rescued, our mourning clothes have been replaced. We are now clothed with joy and even in the midst of "the pits" of this life, we can dance. Jesus tells us that "[He has] come that [we] may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10b)

Yes, there are plenty things in this world that will leave us thinking, "well that's the pits." Whenever we find ourselves thinking that, let's take a "pit-stop" and dig into Psalm 30, so that we can follow up that thought by remembering the comforting thoughts that we find not only in Psalm 30, but also throughout Scripture. The comforting knowledge that we will never ever experience "the pits" of all pits - we will never know hell because the LORD has come to our rescue. Because of what we have to look forward to, we simply can't be silent. Our hearts sing for joy as we exalt and give thanks to the one who has rescued us from having to dwell on "the pits" of this world by rescuing us and sparing us from "the pits" of all pits. Keeping all this in mind, we can't help but join the Psalmist in exclaiming, "I will exalt you, O LORD ... I will give you thanks forever."