“Surely, I wait for the Lord; who bends down to me and hears my cry, Draws me up from the pit of destruction, out of the muddy clay, Sets my feet upon a rock, steadies my steps, And puts a new song in my mouth, a hymn to our God. Many shall look on in fear and they shall trust in the Lord. “ – Psalm 40:1-3

Spiral.

Do you ever feel as if you are spiraling out of control into a deep hole of darkness? 

One tiny thought takes you captive, and you find yourself plunging downward into the deep abyss of darkness. All hope is lost. All goodness erased from your mind. All your strength turned to weakness, and anything that was once seemed restored, now feels destroyed. Darkness consumes and evil begins to take hold of you. Anger sets in and irritation seems to encompass every fiber within you. Games of playing the victim come on in full force like they never even left. Shame overtakes. Words like worthless and failure circle in your thoughts. You hear things like “you won’t change,” “they won’t change,” or “it won’t get better.”

Defeat sets in that the cyclical , habitual spiral has won again. It seems that as if any other thoughts to pull you out of the spiral lose their grasp and fall into the darkness with you. 

Do you feel like you have been in this hole, friend?

Because I have. Often. And if I am honest, these are the exact thoughts that I wrote in my journal as this spiral plagued me one morning. 

My thoughts so easily spiral. It has been something I have always struggled with, and something that leaves me feeling powerless. That powerless feeling is exactly what the evil one wants. When we are feeling caught in the spiral with no way out, the evil one has us exactly where he wants us. The choice is up to you and me to decide if we want to let evil win. 

How can we combat evil?

David provides us with this wisdom in the Psalms. In Psalm 40:1-3 he says, “Surely, I wait for the Lord; who bends down to me and hears my cry, Draws me up from the pit of destruction, out of the muddy clay, Sets my feet upon rock, steadies my steps, And puts a new song in my mouth, a hymn to our God. Many shall look on in fear and they shall trust in the Lord.” 

David sings praises to God for rescuing him from the pit of his suffering.But if we know anything about David, we know that David did not stay unscathed from the pit. He continued to fall into more pits, experience more sufferings and trials and in it all, he continued to seek God. He continued to ask for God to rescue him again, and he continued to combat against the evil of the pit so that darkness did not win in the end. 

We can use David as an example of how to combat the spiral of darkness in our own lives. The evil one will keep persisting and telling us that the spiral will never stop, but if we rest in the truths of psalm 40:1-3, we know that God will be there each time we spiral to pull us from the pit.

“We have a God ready and waiting to stop the spiral and put us on the path to freedom and peace.”

So, when we find ourselves spiraling let’s remember these four things:

Seek+Wait+Praise+Trust

Seek. When we feel ourselves begin to spiral, we must call out to the Lord. The moment we seek the Lord and speak His name, the battle with the evil one begins. The evil one shudders at the mere mention of our Lord. Cry out to Him for rescue. 

Wait. Wait intently for the Lord to rescue you from the pit. As Psalm 40:1 says “I wait for the Lord; who bends down to me and hears my cry.” The God of the universe bends down for you, my friend. He meets you deep down in the darkest part of the pit after He hears your cry. No pit is too deep for Him and He will bend down as low as He needs to reach you.

Praise. When our Lord reaches down and grabs hold of you, praise Him for His goodness. As He places you back on solid ground and fills you with light and truth, proclaim His goodness to all and thank Him for His faithfulness. 

Trust. Put your security in the Lord just as David did. Trust that when life throws you into another spiral, God will bend down into the pit once again and deliver you from evil. 

As Jennie Allen says in her book Get Out of Your Head, “Changing our minds is possible. We do not have to spin.” 

We have a God ready and waiting to stop the spiral and put us on the path to freedom and peace. 

Dear Lord, I am in need of your mighty hand. I am calling out to you from the pit of my spiraling thoughts. I ask that you shield me from the evil one and breathe truth into me. Remind me of your goodness and shine your light into the pit of darkness that surrounds me. I praise you for your faithfulness and love and put my trust in you to set me back on solid ground. I know with your hand gripping me, I can battle the spiral and overcome the pit of darkness. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

Our mind is a powerful thing. So powerful, that what we let inside of it can make us or break us. Below are a few books I have found helpful in my battle with my thought life and emotions. I invite you to check them out. I hope they are helpful to you as well!