"Deliver me from the pit"

How many of our prayers are "deliver me from the darkness" rather than "Thank you that you are with me in the darkness". We so often pray that God will deliver us, we forget that God is with us therefore we do not need to fear. It's hard! At times David prayed for God to deliver him from the pit. Let's be honest the pit (fire/refining/whatever you want to call it) SUXS! But what if God put us (or allowed us) in the pit? I mean let's be honest, we all tend to forget how we need Him for everything- literally for every breath. But boy when we are in the pit we KNOW. Pride disappears, we are desperate for Him, because we know we can NOT do it without Him. 

Following this, I wander how am I supposed to pray? For myself? for others?
I don't necessarily think it is wrong to pray and ask God to deliver us from he pit, because it's coming to God with our pain. Psa 62:8 (NIV) "Pour out your heart to Him". I believe we need to do this. As we do this, we realise again how small we are and how big He is; it help us trust in Him for He is our refuge (see rest of the verse). I think it is important that like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego we should include that even if God does not deliver us, we will worship no other god (see Dan 3:16-18). You see the breakthrough can become an idol, an idol being anything that is more important to us than God. 

Let us pray that we would be aware of God's presence with us in the hard times. This helps us have faith, and not fear the winds and waves. His presence with His guidance and protection (see Psa 23:4 AMP) bring us comfort and peace. Let us also have the courage to pray "yet not my will, but yours be done." Luke 22:42. Here we see Jesus pouring out His heart to the Father about the pain and fear, yet a willingness to submit to God's plans and thoughts. God's thoughts are after all higher than ours (Isa 55:9). When we pray like Jesus for God's will, it shows humility, trust and a knowing/believing that God knows best. 

May the LORD bless you with knowing He is with you

May the LORD keep you unafraid of the shadows

May the LORD make His face shine upon you, to make you brave to pray for His will.

And may He give you peace in the pit.