Pastor's Corner: The Law of Holes

(Psalm 130) What should we do when we're deep in a hole and our lives are spiraling out of control? The answer might surprise you. It was at the bottom of such an abyss that the writer of Psalm 130 was just about to lose all hope of ever seeing the light of day. It's quite likely that the holes in which we find ourselves are figurative ones, but real, nonetheless. Even in the face of rescue, we instinctively panic, like a drowning victim trying to climb out of the water on top of a lifeguard. We tend to escalate, rather than deescalate, defuse, calm down or lighten up. We're experts at making bad situations worse. We try to rationalize this behavior when faced with failure.

The most pertinent advice for people in situations like this has been attributed to Will Rogers, Bill Clinton, cowboys, Warren Buffett and Pat Robertson - all of whom knew of what they spoke: "The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging." Makes sense. Unfortunately, most people in a hole only stop digging in order to find a bigger shovel. So this, we may safely say, is the First Law of Holes. When you find that you've unwittingly dug yourself into a hole, stop doing what you're doing, which is exacerbating the situation.

The Second Law of Holes is, "Don't dig a hole for others." This is a biblical principle derived from, among many possible citations, Proverbs 26:27, which sounds better in Elizabethan English: "Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him." Don't lay traps for your enemies. You're likely to fall in the hole you dug. Consider Haman's ignominious end in the story of Esther, when he died on the very gallows he had constructed for Mordecai. The psalmist had a similar thought: "Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made" (7:15, NIV).

The Third Law of Holes. The author of Psalm 130 is in a hole. "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice!" (v. 1). Obviously, the scene is of a person in a pit from which escape is impossible. From the bottom of this pit, he's now hollering for help. "Lord, hear my voice!" The Third Law of Holes, then, is to cry for help. This might seem obvious, but in a culture where independence and "rugged individualism" are seen as virtues, crying in any way, shape or form is tolerated about as much as one might tolerate a preteen who wants an increase in their allowance.

Asking for help might be okay if it is the government we're hitting up. But polite, intelligent and wise persons with strong emotional IQs do not ask people for help, especially financial help. We even hesitate to ask for directions. God forbid we should think of asking for more. But the Bible teaches us that it is not only okay to ask God for help, it is almost required if we hope to dig ourselves out of holes instead of into them.

This is a person at a crossroads. Have you ever been there? Have you been standing alone at an intersection in the middle of nowhere and realized the choices facing you have been reduced to just two? "I either end it all now and forever, or, I cry out of the depths of my despair to God. I die, or I ask for help. There are no other options." One would hope you've never been in such a deep, profound and dark place, but many people have. This is where the psalm-writer is: in the depths.

What's worse, he is not only in the pit of despair, but it is a pit of his own making! How often has this happened in our lives?  Yet, even when staring at the ceiling at zero-dark-30, while cursing our stubborn irascible nature, we know the one thing we need to do: "I need to ask God to save me from myself." We know that God alone can lift us out of the depths. How do we know this? Because we agree with the psalmist: "There is forgiveness with you." 

Forgiveness! What a sweet word. There is a repairing and healing balm in forgiveness. We know this from experience, do we not? There is perhaps no greater attribute of God's essential nature than God's willingness, even eagerness, to forgive the repentant and brokenhearted. Human beings may take longer to forgive than God, and perhaps some will never forgive or forget. But, after exhausting all avenues of redress, we have to leave it, and be all the more thankful for the amazing grace that God extends toward us in the saving work of Jesus Christ. So, the writer, in a deep hole, with full knowledge of his own culpability, obeys the Third Law of Holes, as should we. He asks for help.

The Fourth Law of Holes. Having stopped the digging and having sent up a cry for help, one must wait with hope. "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope" (v. 5). It is incredibly hard to wait. But if one cannot wait, one cannot hope, for one is inextricably tied to the other. Only those who wait upon the Lord, can hope in the Lord. So how do we do it?

We wait by staying in the "now." Going over past problems, reliving old mistakes, or getting a case of the "shoulda, woulda, couldas" is of no help whatsoever. Rather, we focus on the tasks at hand, next steps and positive actions. In a hole, there is no way to go except up, and that is not going to happen without waiting with a clear mind and heart. We wait with confidence in the One on whom we have called for help. We rang up God; we must let God answer. We reached out to the Creator of the universe. We must let God be God and do what God does and on God's schedule, not ours.

We wait with courage. This is the advice of the psalmist: "Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord" (27:14). How about a climbing reference: "Courage is being scared to death, but strapping on a harness, snapping in a carabiner and having faith that the rope won't break."

We wait with contentment. We do not wait as though we're standing in front of an elevator door, punching the "up" button again and again as if it will make the elevator arrive faster. The elevator will come when it comes. We learn to practice peace; we learn to be content with God's timing. As the apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, "But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently" (8:25).

Corrie ten Boom once wrote: "There is no pit so deep, that God's love is not deeper still." When God's forgiving love reaches down to the depths of our soul, it lifts us up to a new place, a fresh start, and it is then that we realize that when we are forgiven, we indeed have a future. This is what the psalmist wanted; it's what we all want. Forgiven with a future. Amen.

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Pastor Michael O'Hearn

Hi-Line Lutheran Churches