by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n
“He made a pit and dug it out, and has fallen into the ditch which he made. His trouble shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown<\/em>” (Psalms 7:15-16).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Such can be said of most sins, and drugs are no different. The sinner digs his own pit, whipped into action by the slave master, only to find himself trapped by the work of his own hands. Deep pits are easy to fall into but very difficult to get back out of.<\/p>\n
I remember one of my favorite readings:<\/p>\n
\nAutobiography in Five Short Chapters<\/h2>\nby Portia Nelson\n
Chapter One<\/h3>\n
I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost . . . I am hopeless. It isn’t my fault. It takes me forever to find a way out.<\/p>\n
Chapter Two<\/h3>\n
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in the same place. But, it is not my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.<\/p>\n
Chapter Three<\/h3>\n
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in . . . it is a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.<\/p>\n
Chapter Four<\/h3>\n
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.<\/p>\n
Chapter Five<\/h3>\n
I walk down another street.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It seems to me you are living Chapter Two. You knew the drug pit was there, but you lied to yourself and pretended that it wasn’t real. You were still lying when you said “I’ll try not to use marijuana.” I wonder how long it will be before you tell yourself the truth: you’re in a trap that will eventually kill you unless you get out. So many are offering their hands to help you out, but still, you refuse to see the hole you are in.<\/p>\n
I’m praying for your escape.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrior Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSearching for My Friend\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Pits by Jeffrey W. Hamilton “He made a pit and dug it out, and has fallen into the ditch which he made. His trouble shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown” (Psalms 7:15-16). Such can be said of most sins, and drugs are no…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":25976,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-65723","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25976,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/searching-for-my-friend\/","url_meta":{"origin":65723,"position":0},"title":"Searching for My Friend","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Searching for My Friend by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Once again I lost a dear young friend to the seductive snare of drugs. It grieves me to the depth of my heart to see a life full of potential and capable of great joy being twisted toward ruin, sadness, and loneliness.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Searching.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61372,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/what-does-the-bible-say-about\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-suicide\/","url_meta":{"origin":65723,"position":1},"title":"What Does the Bible Say About Suicide?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"What Does the Bible Say About Suicide? Life Is to Be Respected \"Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34106,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/hebrew-poetry\/ellipses\/","url_meta":{"origin":65723,"position":2},"title":"Ellipses","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Ellipses An ellipse is when something is left out of a statement, leaving it to the reader to fill in the gap. This makes the reader actively involved in understanding the points being made. Thus, a comparison is made to something that is not said. When pride comes, then comes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"poetry\"","block_context":{"text":"poetry","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/tag\/poetry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22556,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/survey-of-the-bible\/survey-of-the-bible-lamentations\/","url_meta":{"origin":65723,"position":3},"title":"Survey of the Bible – Lamentations","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Survey of the Bible - Lamentations Text: Lamentations 3:21-36 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The book of Lamentations gets its name because it is a sad book \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Hebrew name for the book could be translated \u201cHow come?\u201d The Greek and Latin translations called it \u201clamentations\u201d and our title is a translation of those.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65600,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/searching-for-my-friend\/my-sin-is-always-before-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":65723,"position":4},"title":"My Sin Is Always Before Me (Searching)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"My Sin Is Always Before Me by Jeffrey W. Hamilton At times I suspect that thinking about how far you have fallen holds you back from getting back up. You're not the first to face the pits of despair. Ezra told God, \"O my God, I am too ashamed and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69907,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-isaiah\/the-coming-kingdom\/","url_meta":{"origin":65723,"position":5},"title":"The Coming Kingdom","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Coming Kingdom Text: Isaiah 35 Chapter 35 serves as a contrast to the fading nations who are facing God's wrath in Isaiah 34. The Desert Will Bloom - Isaiah 35:1-2 The desolate areas where God's people once dwelled will bloom in joy. The description goes from the deserts of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65723\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}