Spiritual Sinkholes
I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
Sinkholes are a commonplace infrastructure problem in metro Atlanta. But did you know that, internally, many of us deal with moral and spiritual sinkholes that impact our lives?
A physical sinkhole can appear out of nowhere and cause destruction. The same is true with spiritual and moral sinkholes. One moment you’re walking on solid ground. Nothing is shifting beneath your feet. Then all of a sudden, you begin to fall into a consuming sinkhole that goes by countless names, from doubting our faith to the allurement of sin.
Spiritual sinkholes have severe consequences and directly impact our relationship with others, yet we fail to recognize them. We end up being stuck and swallowed up in them, and we don’t see a way out.
These spiritual sinkholes are more prevalent than we think. Many of us have things happening beneath the ground that only God sees. We can pretend everything is fine on the surface, but God sees what’s happening under the landscape of our lives.
We all have sinkholes. We all have something that’s trying to swallow us. Here’s a few biblical examples:
- Adam and Eve, a sinkhole of disobedience
- Cain, a sinkhole of envy and jealousy against his brother Abel
- Abraham, a sinkhole of lies as he tried to protect his wife, Sarah
- Moses, a sinkhole of anger when he hit the rock
- Samson, a sinkhole of pride and sexual temptation
- Saul, a sinkhole of jealousy and disobedience
- David, a sinkhole of adultery and murder
- Solomon, a sinkhole of idolatry and disobedience
- Jonah, a sinkhole of rebellion
- Peter, a sinkhole of denial
In Psalms 40:2, David talks about being trapped in a spiritual and moral sinkhole. He referred to the sinkhole as a miry bog. You can’t fall in a sinkhole without getting dirty. But God lifted him and placed David’s feet on solid ground.
If there’s any place that we’d like God to place our feet, it ought to be on a firm foundation - His firm foundation. Let’s look at the things we must consider about sinkholes.
THE SINKHOLES THAT SWALLOW US
Some of the challenges that we're dealing with are pre-existing. Once they begin to exasperate, the pre-existing fractures and cracks. The fissures can’t be seen above ground. They’re hidden under dirt, and they don't become exposed until they implode.
Spiritually speaking, sinkholes come as a result of different life circumstances, habits, beliefs, and dispositions that can cause a person's relationship with God to deteriorate and weaken, leading to the foundation of their lives caving in.
THE NATURE OF SINKHOLES
- Sinkholes are Ubiquitous
Sinkholes are everywhere. They’re ubiquitous because they are widespread. They affect everyone, regardless of spiritual beliefs or background. Sinkholes are caused by various factors, like trauma, loss, existential crises, disillusionment about your faith, or even a conflict between your personal values and spiritual teachings.
As a result, sinkholes can be manifested in different ways, such as a loss of meaning and purpose. A person begins to sink into a hole when they begin to lose sight of their purpose, leading to spiritual emptiness and, sometimes, loss of faith.
- Sinkholes are unique
Spiritual sinkholes are unique from person to person, often the result of individual circumstances and experiences. While some spiritual sinkholes may be familiar to many, each person may have a different type of sinkhole they're dealing with. Factors like personality, life experiences, upbringing, and beliefs all contribute to the formation of spiritual sinkholes that are unique to each person.
- Sinkholes are often undetectable
Sinkholes are often undetectable, undiscussed, and unacknowledged until it's too late, and they start caving in. Why do sinkholes go undetected?
One reason is a lack of awareness. Many are unaware of the signs or symptoms of a spiritual sinkhole, so they don’t know what to look for. Some of us have seen signs or indicators, but we brush them off because of the lack of awareness.
Second, the ego defense mechanism is what we use to protect ourselves from perceived threats. Ego defense mechanisms are also called denial. We keep telling ourselves we’re fine, even though we’re not. We’re hurting, but we want to pretend we’re not, and we go through life with our ego defense mechanism fully operative.
Third, sinkholes go undetected due to a lack of support or the fear of stigma. We don’t want to talk about it because we don’t want to be judged or shamed, so we keep it to ourselves. We go through a personal crisis alone, isolated, and unsupported.
The result? Habituation. We end up going deeper and deeper into our sinkhole, normalizing living within our sinkholes. We’re not even bothered. We just learn to live with it until our lives cave in.
- Sinkholes unfold
There’s always things that trigger the unfolding of a sinkhole. For example, someone mentions a name, and you lose your cool. At some point, you’ve got to deal with that sinkhole. Don’t let it take away your joy and peace.
Did you know you never fall down a sinkhole alone? There’s always collateral damage. Just a thought can easily trigger sinkholes and cause widespread damage. Your sinkhole is causing somebody else to sink, too. It's the Jonah effect. Jonah was the disobedient one, but everybody else on the boat with him was in the storm. You can be in a sinkhole, and it causes your kids to sink, your marriage to sink, etc.
The hardest part of helping people overcome their sinkhole is convincing them they’re in one. If you're sitting here saying that you aren’t in a sinkhole, the name of your sinkhole is called pride and self-righteousness.
CONCLUSION
We all have sinkholes, and over the next eight weeks, I want to help us get out of eight different sinkholes. Let us pray that God would will lift us out of our sinkholes and help us to come to terms with the fact that we're in one.
May God help us to come to a place that we stop with our ego defense mechanisms and start a sense of awareness.
God, help us to be honest and truthful that we are in a sinkhole. Thank You, that like David, You
can lift us up and place our feet on a firm foundation.