Life Development Guide Joseph Series — Show 2

How to Use this Life Development Guide:

1. Download the Podcast of the show and listen to it again. 2. Read Mark’s Blog, and write out your answers to the questions that follow. 3. Call or email a few friends, and invite them to join you in steps 1 and 2. 4. Set up a time to meet and discuss your answers.

The Purpose of the Pit When you’re in the pit – and, like Joseph, we all get a turn there, at some point in life – our first inclination is to ask “why me?” What did I do to deserve this? Why can’t I just learn whatever lesson I need to learn, without having to endure such hardship and misery? One major reason is this: The pit brings clarity and focus to our lives. During the good times, we tend to cruise along without giving a second thought to what’s really important. In spite of our best intentions, we get distracted and busy, consumed by the smorgasbord of choices in front of us. Life rushes by at a relentless pace, leaving us little time to stop and catch our breath, much less contemplate the significance behind why we do what we do. But in the pit, the distractions are few. The choices have been whittled away, narrowed down, until they’re reduced to the essence of our meaning, the purpose of our life. In the pit, you’re forced to consider the deeper issues, the ones that lurk below the surface. A few months back, I caught a report on the news about the whole Bernard Madoff scheme. The reporter was interviewing one of the people who had fallen victim to it. There’s little doubt that someone who just lost their entire life’s savings in a massive fraud would describe the experience as “being in the pit.” But I found myself thoroughly impressed by this man’s response to the reporter’s questions. With a tear in his eye and his wife by his side, he looked directly at the camera and said, “Look. Madoff may have taken my money, every penny I had. But even he can’t touch the things that are most important to me.” And then he turned and kissed his wife on the cheek. You see, the purpose of the pit is straightforward. It helps us cut to the chase. In the pit, we discover whether we’re self-reliant or God-reliant. We get the opportunity to answer the all-important questions: Do difficult times drive us toward God? Or do they drive us away from Him?

Or as Hudson Taylor – founder of the China Inland Mission, a man who knew all too well what it was like to face great difficulties – put it: “It does not matter how great the pressure is, it matters only where the pressure lies – whether it comes between you and God, or whether it presses you closer to His heart.”

For Personal Reflection and Discussion with Others: 1. What pit are you in right now, or just recently? How did you get there? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 2. Who do you blame for the pit you find yourself in? Why them? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 3. How did you respond to the reality of the pit? What were the emotions you felt? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 4. What issues have surfaced in your life since being in the pit? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________

5. Where have you found clarity, because of the pit? Why? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 6. How has your spiritual life changed since finding yourself in the pit? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 7. What changes are you willing to commit to, once you’re out of the pit? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________