# What to do when you are at the bottom

Key Passage: Psalm 13
Date: June 7, 2024

Turn in your mind, if you would, to Psalms chapter 13, Psalms chapter 13. I am thankful we have God’s Word to preach from. I will say this: our church, or maybe the universe, is out of tilt this morning. Ms. Joyce Tomb sits in that back row on that corner seat, and she is not here this morning. Josh Smith has taken her place. Things are just not right. I tell you for sure today. I mean, I am just like, “Whoa, what is going on here?” I have to give my hard time a little bit there. But I did see that. I thought, “Wow, this is just different.” Ms. Joyce has changed a little bit.

Psalm 13 in God’s Word. We started last Sunday during this month of April a little series on prayer. I was reading yesterday over different illustrations and things about prayer, and I ran across this. It is a story. Let me just read it for you. It is said that Mr. Moody—how many know D. L. Moody? There is a… Good, a famous preacher years gone by, is in heaven now. Moody Radio is still out, I tell you now, from then, or left over, if you will, from his ministry. It is said that Mr. Moody could not stand long prayers in public. At one of his meetings, he called on a brother to pray, and he became lost in the eulogy on the Almighty. As Moody saw no landing in sight, he suddenly said, while the brother is finishing his prayer, “Let us sing number 75.”

A medical student happened to be bored with the long prayer. Sometimes we are praying to impress others instead of God. A medical student happened to be bored with the long prayer and was just reaching for his hat to leave when Moody’s sudden switch from prayer to the song arrested his attention. He put his hat down, remained in the service, and was converted. He got saved. That student was the famous missionary afterwards, Sir William Grenfell. What an interesting story. I thought we might like that just to kind of talk about prayer for a bit.

Psalm 13, Psalm 13. We are going to read the whole chapter. It is only six verses. Some of you are like, “Whoa,” six verses. All right. Somebody is like, “Oh my goodness, talking about long prayers, long reading.” I can read my Bible anytime. Six verses. All right. Would you please stand, if you are able, as we read God’s Word? I will get it out in a second here. Psalm 13, and we are going to start in verse number one of God’s Word.

And the Bible says, “How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide my face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? Consider and hear me, O Lord, my God. Lighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death. Let not mine enemies say I prevailed against him, and those that trouble me rejoice when I move. But I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing of the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me.”

The title would be, “What to Do When You Are at the Bottom.” What to do when you are at the bottom? Would you pray that the Lord would speak to our hearts, your heart and my heart this morning, as we preach from his Word? Father, we all, you know better than I, but we all from time to time are at what we call the bottom. Lord, I do pray, would you remind us of these truths when we are there? Lord, maybe some are there even now. I pray that you would encourage them, and Lord, challenge us. Help us to pray more often, Father, because of this morning. And Lord, well, thank you for what you do. Father, we ask this in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

David is the one that God used to pen this chapter of the Bible. David—not all the Psalms are David’s. We think about 74, 75, 73 number David, but we are not sure exactly what point in his life it was when he penned this. We know for sure it was a rough time, a difficult time. I am not sure; I have studied it out, and some will say this time that we are not really sure is the honest truth about it. But it may be that David was a younger man, and he had a mentor, a hero that he looked up to and followed him very faithfully, very good to his hero. His hero was a man named Saul. Saul got jealous of David, and Saul literally tried to physically kill him. Can you imagine if someone you looked up to, someone you served faithfully, and they try to kill you two different times? This man Saul had taken a spear—I do not have anything that would make a good spear—but he had taken a spear, and he was a king back in that day and time, so they had spears. Two different times, Saul threw a javelin right at David, trying to kill David. Praise the Lord, David dodged it and got out of there, but I imagine the hurt was real for David when he said, “I have been trying to follow this guy. He is my hero, and he is trying to kill me.”

Then for about six to seven years—we are not exactly sure how long—David had to run like a fugitive, like he was a criminal. He had to, what we would say in our day and time, go off the grid because Saul, his hero, was very powerful. He led the military; he led the police. He was the king. So David had to run and hide, and he was in caves and in the woods, hiding out and camping out. Maybe it was during that time that David penned this. We are not exactly sure. I tend to think this was the instance for it. I am not sure.

But later on, during this time of hiding, David really—I think he backslid. David eventually ran and went over to the enemy’s camp, over the Philistines, actually over there to Gath—remember Goliath of Gath? David ends up going over to Gath, and he appears eventually to this man named Achish. Achish is the Philistine, and he finds favor with Achish. Achish gave him a little village where he lived called Ziklag. As men, it started off with just 400 men. They were not the best men in the world. The Bible talks about those men as being distressed, in debt, and in despair. But this little tribe of disgruntled men, David took, then eventually grew to 600 men. He was over there for about a year in this part of the world where the enemies live, living with the enemy. Actually, David went down to a little village and killed everyone in that village—men, women, and children. He did it so he could lie and say, “Well, we have been fighting against Israel.” He wanted to tell his boss at that time, the enemy boss Achish, that they had been fighting for him, which was not true. You just see signs of David being majorly backslid during that time.

Then there was going to be this big battle, this big war between the Philistines and between Israel. David was an Israelite, and that was his hometown. David was living over here with the Philistines. They were going to go to war, a major battle, just an all-out battle. David took his 600 men. They traveled about 50 miles, and they went over to where the Philistines were going to fight. I do not know what happened during the battle, but that is what David told everybody: they were going to fight with the Philistines. They lined up with the Philistines.

The Philistine higher-ups, the generals, said, “No, we do not want David fighting on our side. Who knows, in the middle of the battle, he is liable to turn on us to try to gain favor with his mentor, Saul.” So they sent him home. Imagine that. They traveled all this way, and now they have to turn around the next morning. They woke up at reveille time, getting up, and they were not going to fight; they had to travel back 50-some miles. By the way, they did not have tanks back then. They did not have the M1 Abrams tank. You are talking about marching 50 miles. That is a long way to march. They traveled back, and they got back over to their home town, little village of Ziklag, and another enemy had marched in. That enemy had taken all of the wives and children—remember, the men were gone, going to fight on the wrong side, as they were saying.

Wow. You are already backslidden, I think he was. He was killing people he should not have killed, lying about it. And then he was going to fight, at least lining up with the wrong side. Now it comes back, and people have marched in there and taken the wives and the children. Imagine if you lost data at that point—I am not saying God is for it, but there was polygamy that happened in the Bible. It is not God’s plan. God created one man for one woman (or one woman for one man; I am getting that wrong), and that is God’s plan, but it happened in the Bible. David’s two wives are taken, the children. David is down and depressed; he is in the dumps. His wives, his children are gone. But all of these 600 men, their wives and their children are taken. Can you imagine the grown men? These military men, “Oh, my goodness, they have gotten our wives, our children!” Your mind goes to the worst, does it not? And then those men start talking about staking David. “We have been following David, and David has led us to do this. We did not even get to fight, and he has allowed our wives and our children…” They start talking about, “Let us kill David.”

Imagine David. He is away from his hometown, his home country. He is away from God, I believe. And now the men who follow him, now his own men are talking about killing him.

David writes over there, “But David encouraged himself with the Lord.” I think that is when David got right with God. I tend to think maybe that is when God used David to pen this Psalm here, Psalm 13. Totally down. He is at the bottom. We are not sure.

Maybe it was years later when David—that is just an amazing thing here. Y’all listen here, just follow me here, as we are trying to get a little background on how or who he was when he wrote this Psalm. God used him to write it. But imagine this: At one point, David’s very own son, one of his boys named Absalom, I remember several years ago when a dad and his stepson got in a fight—a stepson, but still—and the dad, the stepfather, called and said, “What is going on?” He had been in the hospital because his stepson had taken a bat and beat him up. That is a shock for a father’s son. But this time, in the Bible, this is blood—his very own blood—and he is trying to kill David. Can you imagine your very own blood trying to kill you?

That is what is going on. It was Absalom; David was the king at this point. Absalom was leading this whole coup, this revolt, trying to take over the king and trying to kill David. It was so bad that a lot of people were following Absalom. The Bible says the conspiracy was strong. It is a sad thing. So David had to flee. He had to run away, and he runs over to this place called Mahanaim and gets away from it all.

Then Absalom—this is how wicked and sinful Absalom was, how defiled he was—Absalom takes David’s wives. Now, I am not saying it is right, but David did have multiple wives at this time. He takes his wives, goes up to the top of the castle, puts a tent up there, and has affairs with David’s wives just to be in David’s face. How wicked! Can you imagine that? Can you imagine David running from his very own flesh and blood? You talk about being at the bottom.

David has to lead some of his military to go fight against his very own son. David just had mixed emotions. In fact, his general said, “David, you better get your head together because it is going to end up being worse because you do not know who really to fight for your son or against your son.” You have heard what mixed emotions are, have you not? It is your mother-in-law driving your brand-new truck off a cliff. That is mixed emotions, I think. You will get that after a while.

But David is at rock bottom. Maybe it was then, when his very own son was trying to kill him, that God used David to pen this. My friend, no matter how you look at it, he was at his bottom. Do not raise your hands, but how many of you say, “I know what it is. I have been there at the bottom”? Can I say this? If you have not been there, hang on. You are going there if you live longer. We are all going to be there. Christians, the best of Christians go through that time.

I want you to look at this Psalm. We are going to go back to it a little bit here, verse by verse, and try to pull up some truths. The first part is going to be a little bit depressing, all right? But hang on, things are going to change a bit here. Let us look at verse number one, Psalm 13. He says, “How long wilt thou…” What are the next two words? Ever feel like God forgot about you? Ever feel like you are standing there saying, “Hey God, God, hey!” And God says, “Did you hear something? It seems like somebody I do not see.” Ever feel like God has completely forgotten about me? You are just thinking, “Lord, hey, I am trying to do right here. The more I try to do right, it seems like the worse the problems get.” That is where David was. Let us keep going. He says, “How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever?” How long wilt thou… What are those five words? “Wilt thou hide?” Sometimes I think that is the hardest part of the test: when God is silent.

You feel like you are in a soundproof room. They say when you get in a totally soundproof room, it changes your mental capacity because there is totally nothing—you cannot hear anything. You yell, but you realize no one hears you. You feel like that when you are in the test. They say the teacher is often silent during the test. I think that many times that is the hardest part of the test: when God is just silent. You pray, but you feel like nobody is hearing you. You feel like it is bouncing off the ceiling, and Satan comes along and laughs at you, “Why are you praying? God is not hearing you anyway.” Everybody there? That is where David was.

Job went through the same thing. Job, that great, great Christian—the greatest Christian of that part of the world, the Bible talks about—yet one day, Job hears… You ever just hear the sirens go off and think, “I wonder if any of your spouse, your kids, or your parents are gone”? You hear the sirens, and you think, “Boy, I hope that is not my child.” Job heard the sirens going off—the fire, the police, the ambulance—everybody is there. What is going on? He gets the call, and Job runs to the ER. Laying in the beds are all ten of his children, and they have the blankets pulled up over their faces. They are all dead. Can you imagine that? Losing one child hurts so bad, and you never expect to bury your children, but ten in one day? Wow. Job is going through incredible grief.

Job wakes up the next morning, and all of a sudden he has sores all over his body, from the top of his head to his feet. Wow. He lost all my children. We did not even get to talk about his finances; his business went bankrupt, and his children are gone. Now he wakes up a day or two later, and he has sores all over his body. His wife is grieving with him. His wife basically says, “I cannot take any more.” His wife, his most trusted companion, goes to Job and says, “Job, just curse God and die. Get it over with. I am tired of it. I cannot take it anymore.” Job is going through this. You call that being at the bottom. If there ever was a bottom, that is a bottom, and Job is there. Job had one of those days for sure.

I want you to see what Job says. Look over in Job chapter 23 in God’s Word. Job has some quote-unquote friends who are criticizing him in the midst of all of it. It is amazing what Job was going through, but I think this may be one of the greatest tests Job has in the midst of this tragedy. Look in Job 23. We will start in verse number three, if you would, please. Job 23 and verse number three. You are all there this morning, amen? Amen. Good deal. Job 23, verse number three: “All that I knew where I might find him,” talking about God. He said, “I want to talk to him, that I might come even to his seat. I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which he would answer and understand what he would say in me. When he plead against me with his great power, no, but he would put strength in me. There the righteous might dispute with me, so should I be delivered forever from my judge. Behold, I go forward, but he is not there. And backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand where he doth work, but I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him.” Friend, often the hardest part of the test is just the silence of God.

If you are going to live for the Lord over the long haul, there are going to be times that you are going through it. You just feel like you are in that soundproof room, and you feel like God is not even listening. He is not even tuned in. As David said, he is hiding himself.

In fact, Jesus was on the cross, and Jesus had seven utterances—we use that term, seven utterances of Christ on the cross. Do you know what the middle one was? The middle one was, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Even Jesus experienced that part of the testing. He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Jesus goes through this time. He said, “I just feel like, God, you are not even there. Why have you forsaken me?”

Friend, that is part of the test. David over here in Psalm 13 said, “Lord, why are you hiding your face from me?” Maybe the hardest part of the test is right there. Let us go back to Psalm 13, would you please? Let us go back over there, Psalm 13. We are just reading through this thing. Let us go back to verse number one. We missed a key part of it. I think maybe one of the key parts of it. The very first two words—what are they here? Psalm 13, verse number one: “How long?”

“How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever?” In some aspects, you can say David is like a spoiled brat, like a kid on a trip, asking, “When are we going to get there?” You want to say, “Shut up, brat, we are going to get there.” Somebody is like that for sure, amen. You want to say that today, “Grow up, kid.” But on the other hand, we have all been there before. “Lord, you have not heard me. I have not felt your presence for so long. I feel like you have forgotten about me, Lord. I have been struggling with this thing. I have been crying and praying and asking forever. How long is it going to take, Lord? God, I do not know how much longer I can last.”

You feel like you are bleeding out, and you are praying, “God, when are you going to do something, God? How long?” David is saying, “Forever, Lord.” Exactly where David is. “You have forgotten about me. You are hiding your face from me. How long, Lord? I do not know if I can take it any longer.”

Look at verse number two right there. Verse number two, he says, “How long shall I take counsel in my soul?” He is saying, “I am in a quandary. I have been asking for direction on what to do, and I do not know what to do. All I can do is counsel myself.” I am like a yo-yo; I do not know which way is up. I do not know what to do. I am so disoriented in my life because of this problem. I am afraid to do anything; I am just kind of stuck in the mud. Lord, how long before you give me some kind of direction? That is what is going on with David here.

Let us keep reading. Verse number two: “How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?” If I could just have one day break, I could just wake up and my heart not be hurting so much. I can just wake up and have a little relief here. Every day there is something that has hurt all day long. I would like just one day break. He keeps going: “How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?” God, I am trying to do right. You know the truth. I am not perfect, but I am sincerely trying to serve you. Yet those scoundrels out there are not doing anything right. They are going against you. They are going against me, trying to be the man of God, the husband, whatever may be, and they are doing better than me. They keep going up, and I am just left here. “You have forgotten about me, Lord, and you are hiding from me. How long is it going to take?” Has anybody ever been there? That is where David is, crying out to the Lord there.

Look at verse number three. We are just going to try to get an overall theme. We are going to cover two things, and then we will be done with “What to Do When You Are at Rock Bottom.” You said, “Good, because I am depressed. I came into church in a good mood, and now you have me depressed with all this sad stuff.”

Look at verse number three right there. He says, “Consider and hear me, O Lord, my God. Lighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death.” Here is what I want to get at in two things very quickly. We are done. David is at the bottom. He is crying out, “Lord, I am bleeding out. You have forgotten about me. You are not hearing. How long is it going to take?”

Can I say this one primary, huge thing, a neon light blinking? In the middle of this tragedy, when he is at his bottom, David is still praying. Friend, when you get to the bottom, when you feel like all hope is lost and God is not hearing you, you feel like you are in a soundproof room—keep praying. In how many of these Psalms does David start off bad, negative, but David is still praying in the middle of it all? I said it last Sunday; I will say it again: just pray.

Please do not give up praying. It is not time to run from God; it is time to run to God. Keep praying if you feel like he is not even listening to you. Keep praying when you are depressed. Keep praying when there are more bills than there is money to pay them all. Keep praying when everyone else is getting married and you begin to think something is wrong with you. Why can I not just keep praying, friend? Keep praying when you are saying and fasting and trying to have a child forever. Keep praying. Do not give up. Keep praying.

Keep praying when you feel like God has put you on the shelf. Remember, we had been out of the ministry for a while, and then we had gotten out of the ministry, and I just worked a regular job. I worked at a Union Tank Car Company; I was a welder there. I would go into that factory, put that hood down, and strike that arc. Nobody knows what is going on. You can have some mighty good prayer meetings underneath that hood, and the tears would start coming. I would say, “God, have you put me on the shelf?” After a while, those tears started getting that little lens in that welding hood, and you cannot really see because you are trying to see through those puddles in your welding hood. What happens? “Are you through with me, God?” I am saying, when you are there, you are at the bottom, keep praying. If you are praying through tears, just keep praying. Satan will do all he can to get you so defeated that you are not even praying. Friend, keep praying.

Keep praying when you feel like your marriage seems so shattered it is beyond repair. Just keep praying. David starts out in despair so often. If you are going through a hard time, read Psalms. Saturate yourself with the book of Psalms because David just lets out the laundry. This is where we are at sometimes, but he is praying. He is still praying, friend. Can I say this? Get off the phone and pray. Get off Facebook, get off Instagram, get off Spotify, get off TikTok. You did not know I knew about TikTok, amen?

I wonder if we could somehow put a tiny microphone attached to our heart and our brain to see how many times we are really praying. I wonder how many times when we are at the bottom, we are just contemplating, complaining, pouting, but we are not praying. You say, “Well, I am not going to be a good prayer.” I do not care if you are good or not; just keep praying. Just keep the prayer line between you and God. Even when you feel like it is bouncing off the ceiling, listen, do not go by your feelings; go by the promises of God, and you keep praying. It may be during those times that God hears you more than any other time because it takes faith during that time, and God responds to faith. Just keep praying for it. Pray. Pray when God changes your heart, when God gives you answers, when God says, “All right, time for me to speak to you.” Pray. Stop worrying and contemplating and pray. Stop blaming parents, boss, teacher, or spouse, and pray. Stop living in denial and smiling to everybody when you are hurting on the inside, and pray.

It is amazing sometimes we end up in the wrong place, going back to our sinful addictions, because we are doing everything else at that time but not praying. David had problems galore. He is at rock bottom. I am not saying verse number one through three are the best in the world for sure, but praise the Lord, he is praying. He might be complaining to God, but he is praying. He may be a little bit extreme here with “forever,” but he is praying. God had not forgotten about David. He might be a little bit down, but he is praying. How can you say God has forgotten about him? How can you say God is hiding? He will never do that. He will never forsake you. Hey, friend, the man is praying. Praying. Just keep praying. You are whispering the prayers up. Pray. It may not be some elaborate prayer, but prayer. It may be just whispering a million times in your breath, “Help me, God, help me.” But pray. David is praying. What do you do during your rock bottom time? Just keep praying. You might say, “Preacher, I do not want what is in my heart to come out.” Newsflash: Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Friend, he knows what is in your heart. If your heart is messed up, go to the cardiologist. You can hardly get the word out, amen. Yell that: Cardiologist! It is very hard to do. He is the one that can fix your heart. Keep praying. Satan is going to make you feel like you are such a wreck and God does not want to hear from you, but, friend, he wants to hear from you. Keep praying.

Look over in Psalm 62, if you would, please. Psalm 62. I love this verse. Psalm 62, verse number eight. It is a wonderful verse. Psalm 62, verse eight: “Trust in him at what? All times.” When you are at rock bottom, can I say this? Even when you are not what you ought to be—and when you are at rock bottom, typically you are not, let us all be honest about it—trust in him at all times, you people. “Pour out your heart before him.” Get it out. Do not let it fester in there. Do not let it simmer in there. Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath. Do not live in denial. By the way, it is going to come out. It may come out in a moment of anger when you fly off at your spouse, your boss, your coworker, or your children. You are hurt, and somebody gets wounded, but it is in there. It is going to come out before him. Pour out your heart before the Lord. He has bigger shoulders than anybody in the world; he can handle it. Pour out your heart before the Lord, before him. “God is a refuge for us.” Run to your refuge.

Then he says that word Selah. What does that word Selah mean? I do not know; let us look it up in the dictionary? No. It means, think about this: Pause. Take a moment and reflect. Think about what God just told you to do: trusting him at all times, pouring out your heart.

“I have bitterness in there.” Yeah, that is why you need to pour it out to God. “I am mad, I am angry, I am frustrated. I keep praying, and God is not hearing me.” That is what you need to pray and pour it out more than ever. The devil is going to try to convince you not to pray because it is not worth praying. The devil is a liar. Keep praying. Just keep praying.

So many Psalms start off so negative, so sad. David is at the beginning of the Psalms in despair, but praise the Lord, David is praying. Keep praying. What do you do when you are at rock bottom? Keep praying.

Think about how they took that cotton years ago. Have you ever seen cotton in the field? The white field of cotton. Back in the day, at a factory, they would take that white cotton and weave it into fabric. They did not have quite the modern tools we have today. There was a sign that read this: “If your thread gets tangled, send for the foreman.” A new worker was on the floor, and their thread began to get tangled, but they did not call. They kept trying, and they made it worse. Finally, they called the foreman, and the first thing the foreman said was, “Why did you not call me?” They kept saying, “I did my best.” The foreman said, “You did not do your best. Your best is when you call the foreman.” Friend, when you are in life, it will get tangled. I promise you, it will get tangled. You just keep calling the foreman. You just keep praying.

What are you doing at rock bottom? Keep praying. Number two, number two. We have got to hurry along. This is amazing. Everything is about to change. The whole tone of this chapter, these six verses, is about to change. It goes from despair to rejoicing literally. Someone said it well: it goes from pout to shout. Everything is about to change here.

Let us keep going on this. We just finished verse number three. Let us read verse number four: “Let not mine enemies say, I prevailed against him, and let those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.” Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. What do you do when you hit rock bottom? You keep praying. Number two, here it is: “But I have…” What is the next word? “Trusted in thy mercy.”

The fact that he says, “I have trusted in thy mercy,” shows it was not self-trust. He was not trusting himself because you do not need mercy when you are everything you ought to be. You need mercy when you are not what you ought to be. He is saying, “I am trusting in the Lord.” “Trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.” Friend, when you are at rock bottom and everything seems bad, keep praying and trust him. Keep trusting him.

It is amazing how much trust is involved in these Psalms. They start off so bad, but trust is involved in Psalm 5, verse 11: “But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them.” Psalm 25: “O my God, I trust in thee; let me not be ashamed; let not mine enemies triumph over me.” Psalm 33:21, “For our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his holy name.”

Psalm 37 is the chapter when you think the evil are doing so good, and you are like, “Why are they doing so good, and we are trying to do right?” Everything looks so bad. That is the Psalm I often read, Psalm 37. The last verse of that Psalm 37 says this: Psalm 37:40, “And the Lord shall help them and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in God.” Friend, when you are at rock bottom, keep praying and keep trusting in him. Fifty verses in the book of Psalms have this word trust. Keep trusting in him. Even when things are bad, even when you feel like you are in that soundproof room and think God has forgotten about you, keep trusting in him.

I mentioned Job—the sirens, the ER, the ten children, all that. I did not really finish the conclusion of that. Look back over there, if you will, Job chapter 23. Remember Job’s prayer: “If I can just get a hold of God, he is not going to be mean to me. He will let me talk to him. It puts strength in me.” When he goes to the left, he is not there; the right, he is not there; backward, he cannot find him.

I want you to notice what Job does. I would not say Job passed with 100%, but praise the Lord, he passed. God blessed him twice as much in the end. By the way, he did not permanently lose those ten children; he gained them. He got them in heaven. I think they were saved; he got ten more.

I want you to notice this. I did not read the next verse. I want you to see it. We will start in verse number eight. Job 23, verse number eight: “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there. And backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand where he doth work, but I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him.” Here it is: “But he knoweth the way that I take.” What do you call that? Job said, “I am at rock bottom, and I am going to keep trusting him.” But he knoweth the way that I take.

What happens with Job after that? “When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Friend, when you start trusting in God, it changes something in God, and it changes something in us that trusts. It invites the hand of God to move.

Back in the day when the West was not settled, they were taking these wagon trains from the East out to the West because you could get free land out there. They would have wagon leaders, these guides, and those families would say to that guide, “Hey, we are putting our life, we are putting everything we have in your hands. We are trusting you.” Those guides would take it very seriously and say, “I cannot disappoint these people. They are trusting in me. They are putting everything, their wealth, their wives, their children, their belongings, in my hands. I cannot disappoint these people.”

When you are at rock bottom, you say, “God, I am trusting you. I am bleeding out. I feel like you cannot hear me; you have forgotten about me, but I am going to keep trusting you.” It is amazing when God’s people trust in God in those times like that; it invokes the hand of God to move. God says, “All right, I am going to move on their behalf because they are trusting me during these times.” Trust in him. You say, “I do not feel like trusting.” I understand, but you trust him even when you do not feel like it. You keep praying. You trust. Trusting invites the hand of God to move in your life.

That is how someone is saved. Their eternal destiny has changed from going to hell, burning forever and ever, to going to heaven where there will be no more tears, no more sorrow, no more pain. You walk on a street of gold. We wear gold because it is so valuable; we are going to walk on it up there. There are no mortgage payments up there, amen? We can ride Corvettes and Mustangs and all that, and we do not have to pay for them. There are no tickets for speeding up there. You know how it changes from going to hell, burning forever and ever, to going to heaven? Trust in Jesus. Trust—put all of yourself down—and I am going to trust in myself. I cannot save myself. I am going to trust in Jesus. Trusting invites God to move his mighty hand in your life. Trusting in him.

Not only does trusting in God invite the hand of God to move, but it changes our spirit. Did you notice that? Psalm 5:11, which I read earlier: “…but let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice.” Psalm 33:21, “For our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his holy name.” I love this: Proverbs 16:20, just eight words of a part of the verse that says, “Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.” Trusting changes you. Some of these Psalms are just so down, but they start trusting, and he rejoices.

Hudson Taylor—how many have ever heard of Hudson Taylor? A great, great missionary years ago to China, started the China Inland Mission. He spent 54 years in China. He spent his lifetime over there. Hudson Taylor was an old man; his health was shot. He buried his first wife and a child in China. He married again; his second wife had cancer. His health was so bad that his workers—he started a big missionary organization—said, “We have got to get him out of China.” They sent him over to Switzerland just to get his health back. His health was shot; he was an old man.

Then the Boxer Revolution happens—a very violent, killing revolution in China. They began to start killing missionaries. Hudson Taylor’s team, the China Inland Mission, had 58 missionaries killed during that. They had orphanages and schools they started all over; 21 of their children were killed in that. Two of the missionaries were two single ladies, and he had had correspondence with them just the day before.

Hudson Taylor was in Switzerland. His health was shot; his mind was shot. The workers were trying to keep the news from him about how bad things were, but sometimes you just cannot hide tragedy. Hudson Taylor said, “Tell me like it is. Tell me what is going on.” They told him. This is what Hudson Taylor said: “My mind, my health, everything—all I could do is just lay there.” He says, “I cannot read. I really cannot even think right now; my mind is just so messed up. I cannot even pray like I like to.” But he said this: “But I can trust.” And he lay there in Switzerland, saying, “I am just going to trust him.”

Hudson Taylor was legendary in China, bringing over 800 missionaries to China, starting 125 schools, thousands—literally thousands upon thousands—saved through his efforts. Years and years later, Communist China came in and hired a man to write a book against Hudson Taylor. They wanted to disprove this legend. They were tired of everybody talking about Hudson Taylor and the God of Hudson Taylor and this Jesus of Hudson Taylor. So they hired a very well-known, very gifted author to write a book against Hudson Taylor. As the author began to study the life of Hudson Taylor, the more intrigued he became about Hudson Taylor and his God. The book the author studied was the Bible, the book Hudson Taylor believed in. The man that the communists hired to write a book against Hudson Taylor got saved by studying the life of Hudson Taylor and Hudson Taylor’s God. The power God put on that man—even after he is gone, God is still using him. I said, “I cannot read, cannot think, cannot even pray like I want to, but I can trust.”

Would you bow your heads? Wherever you are, you say, “Lord, I want to pray. I want to keep praying. I want to take my care and turn it into prayer instead of contemplating and thinking.” Right there, what you are telling me is, “Lord, I want to pray more. I want to pray more. I want to pray when things are bad, when I am at my rock bottom.” If that is you this morning, just lift your hand. I want to pray more. I want to be praying. Satan will do all he can to convince you not to pray; he will get you worried and contemplating. But pray. Can I encourage you to pray? Thank you so very much. Many, many hands.

Maybe you hear this morning and say, “You know, I am going to trust him when I am at rock bottom.” Things seem so bad; I cannot even function like I like to function. I am going to trust him. I am going to trust in his mercy when I am bleeding out and feel like he has forgotten me. I am going to keep trusting. God spoke into my heart; I am going to keep trusting him even during the bad times. “Preacher, I am not going to turn on the Lord. I am going to trust him.” God spoke to my heart; I am going to trust him even during the bad time. If that is you, slip up your hand. I am going to keep trusting him during the bad time. Would you let the Lord know about that? Put your hands down. I am going to keep trusting.

Maybe you hear this morning and say, “Preacher, as far as my eternity, I have never trusted in Jesus. I have never put my faith in Jesus Christ to be my Savior. I need to trust in Jesus, not in my goodness.” It will never save you. The Bible says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” I need to trust in what Jesus did on the cross and not my good works to save me. I want to trust in Jesus.

If that is you, would you go to Jesus? “Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I understand there is a penalty: death and hell. But Jesus, I am asking you, would you pay for my sins? Would you come into my heart? Would you be my Savior? I am trusting in you and you alone to get me to heaven.”

If you are there and you say, “Preacher, I just trusted in Jesus Christ to be my Savior. I just called on him to be my Savior,” simply raise your hand. “Preacher, I just trusted in Jesus to get me to heaven. I just called on him, trusted in him to be my Savior.” Did you slip your hand up?

Would you please stand? Let us all stand if you would, please. I am going to have a word of prayer. Maybe you would like to come to an old-fashioned altar just to spend some time praying and trusting. If you are not sure heaven is your home, or maybe you just pray to ask Jesus to be your Savior, there will be a man standing down front; there will be a man standing in the back. Would you go shake their hand and let them know, “I trust in Jesus to be my Savior”? Would you do that?

Father, thank you. Thank you that you are worthy of our prayers. You are worthy of our trust. Thank you, Lord, in David’s life and in our lives, how you come through when we do that. You are amazing at bringing wonderful things out of tragedy. Help us in the meantime to keep praying and to keep trusting in Jesus. And we pray, amen.

Keep praying. Keep trusting. People will tell you it is not worth it; he is not hearing; he has forgotten about you. But David would still pray. Say what you will about David, but he is praying. But when he started trusting, that is when the rejoicing came. Lord, help me to trust you. Oh, for grace to trust you more, the song says. Amen. Amen.

It is amazing; after so many of the rock bottoms, and God’s kind of refining us, God begins to bless us greatly, and he did with David. Every one of those instances I mentioned at the beginning, he blessed, and he did with Job. Keep praying. Keep praying. And keep praying. Pastor will let you out sometime on Sunday afternoon, I promise you. Amen. And keep trusting the Lord. He is going to let you go. Amen.

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - What to do when you are at the bottom - Sunday AM 04142024