That's the Pits
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 38:1-6
There is a common idiom that goes something like, “That’s the pits.” The origins of the phrase are uncertain. Some suggest that it came from the mining industry where the lowest, most dangerous, and most difficult part of the mine was called the pits. Thus, the phrase came to mean a difficult and dangerous place in life. Others think it came from the world of auto racing. You might have watched a race and heard the reference to a car going into the pits. That is where they go when something has gone wrong. I tire has blown out, an engine has failed, or something else has gone wrong and a stop for repairs becomes necessary and the driver is taken out of the race. So, the phrase might be meant to speak to something that has gone wrong and taken you out of what you had set out to do.
I think the phrase may have come from the book of Jeremiah. I have no evidence of that, just a hunch. In chapter 38 Jeremiah’s prophecies run up against a cabal of men who are determined to shut him up. They get permission from the king to imprison him, but not to kill him. They took him to the home of the king’s son, Malchiah, and lowered him into his cistern. The cistern was empty, but several feet of mud filled the bottom, and Jeremiah sank into that mud. He was in the pit.
Maybe that is where the phrase, “that’s the pits,” comes from. It could be the idea of being stuck in muck with no apparent or obvious way to get free.
In Jeremiah’s case, we can say with certainty that he wasn’t there because of anything he had done wrong. He was there because he was obedient to the Lord and doing God’s will. While as a general principle of wisdom, obedience, and holiness lead to better outcomes and life circumstances; sometimes they result in being cast into the pits.
Jeremiah ended up in a cistern, Paul in prison, and John exiled to an island because they were obeying God, not because they were disobeying the Lord. Be careful not to judge another’s person’s spiritual state by their present circumstances. Be careful not to gauge your own spirituality by how things are going in life. It’s better to use the Word of God as the measuring rod.
Thank you for your insight and sharing it.