Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
I had a vision of men and women coming out of a pit on a snowy day. The vision comes right out of the Bible. In 2 Samuel 23:20-23 is a story about a man named Benaiah. He was one of the men who joined David when he was hiding out in the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. 22:2). When David became King it was these men who became his officers and rulers. I believe some who have experienced the pits of circumstance will begin to emerge and enter their destiny.
Among other notable exploits it says Benaiah “killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day.” Pits are not your typical trial or hard time, they are the bottom of the bottom. And pits are never empty, there is what appears to be a man-eating lion in the pit and how you react when you encounter that lion affects your destiny. Everyone’s lion is different. For some reason, in the two pits I have been in the lion I had to face was death, which is a very powerful lion. We can cower in fear, get mad, blame God or run away, which is what we want to do or, by the grace of God, we can face the thing that wants to destroy us and prevail.
There is one more thing about pits, they happen on a snowy day. In the natural snow numbs the hands, which would make it difficult to use your weapons. Snow makes footing treacherous and slippery, and there is snow-blindness. The brightness of the sun upon the snow can cause you to suffer loss of vision temporarily. In the pit we temporarily lose our spiritual vision, our revelation, scriptures and normal weapons we use against the enemy do not seem to work. It is hard to stay standing much less fight. It is because there is something greater that God is doing.
The meaning of Benaiah’s name is revealing in all of this. It means Jehovah has built. Benaiah was one of the malcontents whom God built into a mighty man of valor. That is what God is doing with you in the pit; He is building you into who He has called you to be. After the pit David, appointed Benaiah as the head of his personal security, which was like our secret service. Ultimately, he went on to become the commander-in-chief of all Israeli forces under King Solomon (1 Kings 4:4).
It says that Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada. Again, the name gives us insight; Jehoiada means Jehovah knows. In the pits I experienced the Lord let me know He knew what was happening and was right there in the pit with me. That gave me the courage and grace to prevail in the pit. I came out of the pits with a deeper revelation of the cross.
Corrie Ten Boom is one of my spiritual heroes. Her life inspired me at my lowest moments. She and her sister were in a Nazi death camp during WW2 for helping the Jews. One day, after a terrible series of degrading experiences, these women were marched out single-file and, one by one, were made to take off all their clothes and stand absolutely naked before a group of Nazi doctors, arrogant men who showed their contempt for them. These modest, refined women had to stand stark naked before these men. Corrie turned to her sister, Bessie, and said, “Bessie, remember, Jesus was naked on the cross.” And her sister turned, and her face lit up with a smile, “Oh, that’s right. Oh, that helps!” He really does know.
Many Blessings, BW