What to Remember When You Hit Bottom, Part 2

Visionary leaders are able to peer into the future and forecast what's ahead. And throughout history, God raised up powerful prophets who warned people of looming danger. Jeremiah was like that. He saw destruction coming, but the Israelites didn't listen.

And soon the Babylonians ransacked Jerusalem and sent the people into exile. For a living, Chuck Swindoll continues his study in Lamentations Chapter 3. In this time-sensitive message, Chuck sees a clear connection between Israel's plight and our world today.

He titled his message, What to Remember When You Hit Bottom. We begin with prayer. Help us to learn to stop. Our Father, even in the rush of things, even as events unfold, teach us the power of momentary stopping and entertaining the silence. of the moment and absorbing the reminders that you are God and we are not. You are in charge.

You are in control and we are neither. You are our God. And in that, there is great comfort. There is a resurgence of hope. There is a renewal of inner peace.

Help us to stop and learn again that you alone are our God. When we would be afraid and entertain alien thoughts, when we would panic and run, trying to escape, stop us, slow our pace, remind us of the great benefit in waiting on you. There are some today who wait in pain. We remember them. Our hearts go out to them. Some are in deep grief, having lost an individual who meant much to them. We pray for them that you would bring comfort and wonderful reminders that there is a home beyond this one that is fairer than day, and by faith, we can see it afar. And there are some dreadfully worried because of their preoccupation with the world around us and the devastation we're witnessing. Bring back to us the reminder that it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because your compassion fails not.

They are new every sunrise. Thank you for the privilege of worship. We do so with confidence that you will minister to us and then through us to others as we absorb truth to live by through which we make wise decisions and measure our words and speak with kindness. And forgive often.

Make even these moments meaningful as we pause to let the wonder in. For Jesus' sake, I pray everyone said, Amen. To search the Scriptures with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scriptures studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies.

And now the message titled, What to Remember When You Hit Bottom. Jeremiah held forth faithfully as a man of God, speaking to people who didn't want to hear what he had to say, and they told him so. They resented him. They rejected him.

They even imprisoned him on occasion. They shoved him aside. They pushed him back. They ignored his message. He told them with warning, you're heading for devastation.

Our city will fall. The enemy is preparing and he's coming. They wanted nothing to do with his message. They wanted to listen to false prophets and fake preachers and phony priests who told him everything was going to be fine.

It's fine. And then Jeremiah knew better and he told him so. And as a result, you know by now, 586 B.C., the city of Jerusalem fell. The Babylonians laid siege. They destroyed the Temple of Solomon.

They devastated the buildings and the beautiful place of Jerusalem, the city of Zion, lay in ruins. Jeremiah sees it all, not only before the fact, as his prophecy reveals for 51 chapters, but when it falls, chapter 52, and on into his lamentations. Isn't it interesting God preserved lamentations for all of us to read so many years later, as many of our cities are going through terrible times? You've seen it.

So have I. You wonder what's next as you turn on the set, and it may be even worse than it was yesterday. We turn to lamentations and we realize that there's a limit. There's a limit to God's patience and there's a limit to His grace, and we wonder if we're getting near. And then of all things, along with all of that comes a virus that sweeps its way not only across Asia, but into our country and then beyond, into Europe, and now it's worldwide.

And it's even on the rise from time to time. And you go, what's next? Jeremiah gives us the words, I am one who's seen afflictions, chapter 3 verse 1. I've seen afflictions that come from the rod of the Lord's anger. He has led me into darkness, shutting out all light. He has turned His hand against me again and again all day long. He has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones. He has besieged me and surrounded me with anguish and distress, buried me in a dark place like those long dead.

This man is at the bottom, finally reached the bottom. You've been there. I've been there. On previous occasions, we've all been there.

In fact, this is a third chapter of a heartbreaking elegy recorded by Jeremiah, who with his own eyes sees and with his own hand writes of all this that is happening around him. And let me tell you the dangerous part of it all. If we're not careful, we begin to entertain alien thoughts.

Please hear me. Unlike Jeremiah's audience, please heed, hear and heed my words. When all of this begins to happen, you move into a realm of hopelessness. It's a dangerous place to be. I call it dangerous because that is where our adversary loves for us to be. He loves it when you lose hope. He loves it when a preacher loses hope. He applauds when he hears us saying things like, I've hit bottom, because he knows at that point it is easy to make satanic choices. It is easy when we are at the bottom to have alien thoughts and come to wrong solutions and begin to feel fear that makes us want to hide and panic that makes us want to run.

And I'm going to go ahead and say it. And to put an end to our lives, which is the adversary's desire for every one of us, never doubt it. He wants you to take your life. It's heartbreaking. When you hit bottom, you remember something important. If you're going to pull out of the self-pity, Jeremiah is our model.

He does that very thing. Look, if you will, beginning at verse 19, and concentrate. Let's all concentrate.

The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. So he's at the bottom, admittedly. He has no place to look but up.

And look at what he does. He looks up. I will never forget this awful time as I grieve over my loss, yet I still dare to hope. Love those words in verse 21. I still dare to hope. And at the bottom, I've come to the pit of my life. Devastation is all around me.

I dare to hope. When? When I remember this. Okay, men and women, this is what we remember when we come to the bottom.

Here it is. Right from the inspired Word of God, look for yourself. I remember this. What is it he remembers? Well, look at the next few verses. He will tell us, verse 22, I remember the Lord's loving kindness never ends. His loyal love never ends.

Never. Second, I remember his mercies, plural, always more mercies than misery, his mercies never cease. I remember that. In the pit, at the bottom, I remember, Lord, your loving kindness never ceases. Your mercies never end. Your faithfulness never diminishes. It's always great. I remember that. Such thoughts, please observe, are provided for us every morning.

I love it. Verse 23, his mercies begin afresh each morning. Think of it as each sunrise. Even when you can't see the sun behind the clouds, that sun is there.

It's coming up. Every morning, every morning, every single morning, his loyal love is fresh. His mercies, which is his ministry to us in our misery, never cease, and his greatness never diminishes. New every morning, I sit on my back porch, screened in back porch, I look out over those short trees behind our back porch, and I see the sun beginning to rise, and I remember your loyal love isn't ceasing. Your mercies are not running out. Your faithfulness is not diminishing. Thank you, Lord, for the sunrise. Thank you for the reminder. I don't care what the news said last night. I don't care how bleak it may seem, in the outlook, I'm taking the up look, and when I look up, I see loyal love, divine mercies, and phenomenal, undiminished greatness, all pouring forth from the Lord.

He never takes a hike. He never goes away. In the message, we read, I remember it all.

Oh, how well I remember the feeling of hitting the bottom. But there's one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope. God's loyal love couldn't have run out. His merciful love couldn't have dried up.

They're created new every morning. And how great your faithfulness. And then he concludes, I'm sticking with God. I say it over and over. He's all I've got left.

He's all I've got left. And so verse 24, I say to myself, look at this, in place of self-pity, as a result of the sunrise and the things I'm remembering coming to mind, I say to myself, the Lord is my inheritance. COVID-19 is not my inheritance. It is not my inheritance. Devastation in cities is not my inheritance. My inheritance is not a few who are attempting to take charge. Furthermore, my inheritance is neither Republican nor Democrat. My inheritance is the living God. My inheritance is the Lord my God. He is the one, full of mercy, full of love, full of greatness.

That's the sunrise every morning. For a number of years, we enjoyed the presence of Sam Johnson. Sam Johnson, a war hero, shot down over North Vietnam. The Viet Cong captured him, put him in what they called the Hanoi Hilton, and there he lived for almost, get this, seven years. Seven years. Let that sink in.

Eating whatever crawled across the floor, snakes, lizards, roaches, rats, whatever. He survived. He told me on one occasion, Chuck, the way I was able to make it is inside my head was another message. Inside, I was telling myself, this isn't the end. This isn't even the beginning of the end. I like Churchill's conclusion to that, but this may be the end of the beginning. That's a good way to look at it. It's not going to start all over again. I've been through the beginning. But I'm moving toward a time when God will take charge and there will be relief, we'll be rescued, I'll be liberated, I'll get out and be able to tell my story.

Furthermore, I've got companions who are believing with me. It's in here, men and women. It's in here. It's not on the television set. It's not on your radio in your car.

It's not in the news you're reading. It's in the word of God planted in the mind that nullifies self-pity and says to self-pity, take a hike. I'm not listening to your pleading voice telling me life is over. It's not over. You think life is over? I'll give you a little experiment. Go home, go in the bathroom, stand next to a mirror and go, if it fogs over, you still have hope. Okay? If it doesn't, call 911. You've got a real problem.

But it'll fog over every time. You know why? Because you're still here.

He's got a plan. You've still got breath in your lungs. You didn't give it to yourself. God gave it to you. You've got a beat in your heart.

You didn't give that to yourself. He gives you that electrical charge every time it beats. Every time. Sometimes that kind of bugs me. I'll lay down at night and I'll lay on this left side. I don't know why, but that's how I sleep. But when I do, I hear, buh-bump, hopefully, buh-bump, buh-bump.

And I don't like that. Some people say just count the sheep or every one of the bumps. I don't want to hear the buh-bump, so I've learned if I put my hand, that's a little tip I'm going to pass along to all of you.

No extra charge. If you put your hand under your head and you have a wonderful wife, that helps too. And I've got now a little space and I don't hear anything, but I love you, Chuck. This is the Lord. I love you tonight. You're precious to me because you're mine. And you have my inheritance. You have my future.

You have my hope. This is for you, Chuck. And in silent ways, he breaks through and blots out all the news that dragged me down. Turn off the television. For once, enter into a world where God has a chance to speak.

Listen to him. My loving kindness is yours. My mercies are yours. My faithfulness, yours to claim. My inheritance is yours. My deliverance is yours. My compassion is yours.

It's all yours. But the world will never remind you of that. It will only tell you what's going wrong and how bad things are. Not with the Lord. He doesn't live his life and his existence in the realm of bad news. He's sovereign over all, in all through all and beyond all. You know when you latch onto that? When you pray.

When you pray. I encourage you, drop to your knees, pour out your heart, flush out all the worry, all the fears, get rid of that, and say, Lord, I need the reminder that you're in charge, you're still in control, just as you were, just as you were when Sam Johnson was imprisoned in that awful place of torture. You were still there. You saw him through it. Let me show you verse 55. He says, I called on your name, O Lord, from deep within the pit.

There it is. I called on your name. You heard me when I cried. Listen to my pleading. Hear my cry for help. Yes, you came when I called. You told me, do not fear.

There it is again, do not fear. Our subject today is what to remember when you hit bottom. And you're listening to Bible teacher, pastor, and author Chuck Swindoll. He's teaching from the Book of Lamentations, a section of scripture that Chuck refers to as Jeremiah's Journal of Woes. To learn more about this ministry or Chuck Swindoll, be sure to visit us online at insightworld.org.

Insight for Living has been on the air since July 1979, and we've never missed a single day. Over the decades, Chuck has deposited thousands of sermons into the archives. It's not unusual for us to feature something that was originally preached 20, 30, even 40 years ago. Our current study in Lamentations, however, was delivered only a few months ago, and it's refreshing to hear Chuck's insight on the current cultural battles taking place in our world, and to see the sobering parallels between Jeremiah's anguish and our own.

We're living in harsh times when kindness is rare, where people are polarized by politics and emotions are spiraling out of control. In times like these, God is calling us to a higher place. And if you're ready to rise above the heaviness, let me recommend a classic book from Chuck called Encourage Me, Caring Words for Heavy Hearts. This book targets those who need a lift, but it's also a great book to give away as an act of kindness to others in need. You can purchase a copy of Encourage Me right now by going to insight.org slash offer, or by calling us if you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. In closing, let me say a word of thanks to our monthly companions and all those who give generously. You're accomplishing far more than you'll ever know because your gift allows us to deliver the truth of God's word to millions around the world.

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And when we respond today, our simple act of generosity will be transformed into that irresistible sweet aroma of grace for someone we may never meet this side of eternity. Become a regular monthly supporter by calling us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888 or go online to insight.org slash monthly companion. Chuck Swindoll continues our study of Jeremiah's Journal of Woes tomorrow on Insight for Living. The preceding message, What to Remember When You Hit Bottom, and the sound recording were copyrighted in 2020 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.