The Pit and The Pedestal

A friend introduced me to an online devotional. In our prayer time together each morning, we would often start by reading the message for that day. It was clear that the devotionals were written by and for people who had come from hard places. I noticed how much encouragement there was and how often the devotional reminded the readers that they were worthy and loved. It spoke against the shame and the lie that they would never be good enough. It was interesting because, at this very same time, God had been working on me to remind me that I wasn’t “good enough”—without him. That I wasn’t worthy—but Christ died for me anyway. And it was only through God’s grace that I would be saved. The contrast became increasingly obvious to me, and I had to stop and think about what God was teaching me.

After wrestling with it, I have come to call it the Pit and the Pedestal. So many of the women I walk with have never been loved or encouraged the way they should have been. They have experienced and done things that bring shame and, in their thinking, an impenetrable wall of separation between them and God. They live in the Pit and feel as though God would never want anything to do with “someone like them.” In my life, I have always felt loved and encouraged, and I have been a “good girl.” So, I’m afraid that, in some ways, I had come to believe that I was somehow “good enough.” Surely, someone as good as me would get into heaven! Without realizing it, I had put myself up on a pedestal. And from my lofty heights, it was easy to look down on others.

What God showed me in this season was that we are all separated from God. From the depths of the Pit or the lofty heights of the Pedestal, there is a great divide called sin. While some may struggle with sins of commission—things they do that are wrong in the eyes of God, I struggled just as much with sins of omission—things I failed to do, things that God clearly asks of us. They may go to jail for their sins. I may get a promotion or accolades from my peers. Both make us fall short of the glory of God. The scary thing is that we live in a society that actually encourages and promotes a lifestyle that keeps us from fully surrendering to God—chasing after achievements and clinging to comforts. Sometimes I found myself a little jealous of their need for God, their desire for God, and their passion for God.

I watched as God gently lifted these women from the Pit. He spoke words of love and encouragement to them. He made them feel worthy of true love. They began to realize that the harshness they experienced in life wasn’t his design but a consequence of a sin-cursed world. I watched women realize that they deserved to be treated well—to be loved and cherished. That they could be, and were, loved by God himself! I watched shame fall from them like old rags as they put on their new robe of Christ’s righteousness. God’s love gave them new life! They were children of God—daughters of the King. They had to give up their old identity to receive this new one.

On the other hand, I had to be taken out at the knees a little bit. God had been stripping the things in which I wrongly placed my identity. It was not my intelligence, career, title, accomplishments, or even acts of service that made me worthy—it was Christ alone. I had to give up one thing after the other, surrendering until I came to the point of realizing that I could never do this on my own. I had to be brought down. I had to be humbled. And I received new life! I was a was a sinner in need of a savior. I had to realize that before I could ever receive my new identity.

Scripture suddenly came to life. Verses I memorized and had always known—but not really known—jumped out at me. The concept of the Pit and the Pedestal was nothing new. I just finally got it. The Bible speaks over and over about this very thing. He will bring down the mighty and exalt the humble. He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Our pride will bring us low, but the lowly will obtain honor. And it leveled the playing field. They were raised up, I was brought low, and we walked side-by-side together in Christ.

“I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God.

For he has clothed me with garments of salvation

and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,

as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

Isaiah 61:10 NIV

“For those who exalt themselves will be humbled,

and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Matthew 23:12 NIV

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

James 4:6 NIV

“Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor.”

Proverbs 29:23 NIV