Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who redeems your life from the pit Psalm 103:2,4a
To be redeemed describes one of the most intimate aspects of our relationship with God. We bring nothing to the table worth redeeming, yet God chose to purchase us with the blood of His own son.
Look at how Paul describes our status before He redeemed us.
26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 1 Corinthians 1:26-29
He defines us as foolish, weak, lowly, and despised. These attributes do not go well on the resume’ of life, but God sees them differently. His evaluation of our status levels the playing field so that all may be able to participate in salvation.
Perhaps you can identify with Joseph. His brothers threw him into a pit and then sold him into slavery. This first pit involved abuse at the hand of his family. Many people feel justified in remaining in this pit because of being on the bad side of family drama. It may be true that you have received physical or verbal abuse at the hands of those who are closest to you. God redeems you from this pit of broken dreams and lives at the hands of family and friends.
Perhaps like King David you are in the pit of pride of no accountability. David committed adultery and had her husband killed and went on with his life acting like all was good. God found him in this pit when the prophet Nathan exposed him as “thou art the man”. Even though God accepts us in this broken state, sometimes consequences remain. You should feel the tension that God forgives David, but the husband remains dead. David did not deserve to be forgiven, and neither do you nor I.
On this Simply Sunday, May you go to church with a profound appreciation that God has redeemed you from the pit. Look to your right and left, front and back while standing inside the sanctuary. Everyone has been or still is inside a pit. The purchase for delivering them out has already been paid for on the cross and accepted in the resurrection. Say an extra prayer for those who need the experience of being redeemed today. Let thankfulness, gratefulness and worship rise within you as you remember being redeemed from the pit
Blessings Love y’all