How would you like to be the top dog sitting on top of the world? Maybe you’d like to be at the front of the line? Some people are so happy when they move to Texas they say, “I wasn’t born in Texas but I got here as fast as I could”.
But how about this one? How would you like to be at the bottom of the barrel? That sounds crazy! What good could possibly come from being at the bottom of the barrel? I don’t want to go there AND if I ever end up there I want to get out of there as quickly as I can. To be at the bottom of the barrel means we’ve hit rock bottom. It means our life is “not good” and we’re probably at the end of our rope. We may even be falling apart.
But there is something good that can happen at the bottom of the barrel. God can go to work and do some terrific things in our life. When we are at the bottom of the barrel there is only one way to look – UP! That means that we are open to change and open to growth. We are listening to God like never before. We have been humbled and are like soft clay. Now God can mold us and shape us into something more beautiful than when we were confidently and maybe even arrogantly sitting on top of the world. We have a moment of clarity.
If we take advantage of being at the bottom of the barrel we will become more spiritually sensitive. We become more aware of what really is important in life. When the apostle Paul had the thorn in the flesh he begged the Lord Jesus three times to remove it. You know what Jesus told him? The Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” (II Corinthians 12:9). Do you know how Paul responded to the “NO” answer from the Lord? He wrote, “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (II Corinthians 12:9-10). Paul used the thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to draw closer to the Lord and appreciate His salvation and grace. He used that “bottom of the barrel” experience as a stepping stone to draw closer to Christ.
Read Psalm 42:1-11. Then listen to Fall Apart by Josh Wilson.
Psalm 42
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for You, God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
I remember these things and pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go over with the multitude and walk them to the house of God,
With a voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude celebrating a festival.
Why are you in despair, my soul?
And why are you restless within me?
Wait for God, for I will again praise Him
For the help of His presence, my God.
My soul is in despair within me;
Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan
And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have passed over me.
The Lord will send His goodness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life.
I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries taunt me,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
Why are you in despair, my soul?
And why are you restless within me?
Wait for God, for I will again praise Him
For the help of His presence, my God.