The Beauty of Rock Bottom

Rock bottom. It is a stark, jarring phrase that we use to describe that desperate place where people’s lives have fallen apart, when they have run out of all options, and when there is nowhere deeper for them to fall.

I have had some moments in that place, and while I never want to return there, I think that God might view those low spots of our lives a little differently than we do.

Psalm 95:4 says, “In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him.” This is stunning imagery. God holds both the highs and lows of our life. One of His hands stretches up to the sunlit mountain peaks where life is good and vision is clear, and His other hand extends below our rock bottom, holding it inside His grip. It is easy to believe in God when we are living on the mountain peaks, and it is easy to forget Him when our world bottoms out, but when we do touch those places of brokenness and desperation we need to remember that there is a deeper level than our rock bottom, God’s hand.

That is why for many people, rock bottom becomes the place where they finally encounter God and surrender to His higher power in their lives. That is why rock bottom often becomes the place where we stop falling and begin to rise back up. For all of us, the rock bottoms of our lives can either be low places or deep places. And there is a difference.

Psalm 42:7 says, “Deep calls to deep at the sound of your waterfalls.” The tone of this psalm echoes off the walls of a rock bottom place, yet the psalmist did something very brilliant there. He stood firmly in that low spot and invited the depths of God to meet him there. Deep calls to deep. God can turn our low points into turning points where the deep things of God fill the cavernous depths of our soul.

Let’s make that our story! Let’s decide that our low spots will become deep spots, and that by God’s grace our rock bottom will be the start of an elevator ride back up.