TREASUES OF DARKNESS (Cont.)

Earlier I wrote about being alone in the pit. It IS a very lonely place no one but Jesus can feel exactly what you are feeling or experiencing. And...if it is a personal issue that you are not able to share with anyone, it leaves you to face the problem all alone...which exacerbates the whole situation.

If you are able to share your problem with even one person who loves you and who you can trust, you are blessed. For having someone to pray for you and to encourage you while you are there is worth more than gold.

Os Hillman, author of the popular devotional that I often quote here, wrote of this personal experience of being in the pit:

Friendship in the Pit

Os Hillman

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. - Proverbs 17:17

"I am in there again," I told my friend. "The pit."

A time when no one can cheer you up and you wonder if there ever was or is a God. Have you ever had such times? Discouragement can be devastating even to the best of saints. It can bring us so low. The writer of Proverbs phrased it well when he said, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick" (Prov. 13:12). When we get so low that we despair of our belief, we can identify with the prophet Elijah who wanted to die after being so discouraged with life.

"I'm coming over," my friend said.

"Aw, you don't have to do that," I said.

"I'm coming over. We're going to pray."

About 30 minutes later my friend walked in the door. We sat down on the living room floor and simply lay on our backs as my friend began to pray. I didn't feel like praying. I was too deep in the pit. All I could do was listen. After awhile my friend was quiet. We both sat quietly for ten to fifteen minutes, praying quietly to ourselves. Suddenly my friend said, "First Thessalonians 5:24!"

"What verse is that?" I asked.

"I don't know," she said. "That is the verse He spoke to me."

I grabbed my Bible and looked up the verse. "The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it."We laughed. Can He be so personal? Can He care that much? That night I grew more in my love of my two friends, not to mention being brought out of the pit

Do you have a friend who is there when you need somebody at any hour of the day? Are you there for your friend? Ask the Lord how you can be a better friend to someone today. Yes, being in the pit is terrible in and of itself. But to have a friend who will come along side you, pray for you, encourage you, and love you through it is a treasure of darkness that you will not fully appreciate until you are there.Some friends are "fair weather friends". They like to be around when everything is sunny and bright..when you can laugh and shop and share good times. But when you are in the pit, when you have nothing good to say because your heart is so heavy, when you can't see the sun shine...then some friends will run the other way. They do not want to help shoulder the burden. They don't want to listen to your problems. They feel they have enough of their own. But a TRUE friend is always there, always ready to listen, to love and to pray. When you hurt they hurt. Just as the saying goes "A joy shared is a joy doubled; a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved."I pray that if you are in the pit that you have a friend "who sticks closer than a brother". If you do, you are blessed with a great treasure!