What to Do When the Bottom Falls Out
Isaiah 35:3-4
Intro: Share story of falling into the man hole.
Sometimes we feel that way
Financially
Physically
Emotionally.
Spiritually
Job is certainly a prime example of this.
I was reading in the book of Isaiah this week and I found, almost hidden, a very simple formula to follow when we find our selves suddenly on the pavement trying to figure out what in the world has taken place.
The Title of my message this evening is…
What to do When the Bottom Falls Out
Read Isaiah 35:3-4
I. WHAT TYPICALLY HAPPENS WHEN THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT?
1. Weak Hands
As I plunged 5 feet in less than ½ a second, I caught myself with my elbows and my hands.
My left wrist is still sore from the experience.
The word weak as it appears here means slack, not busy or active, remiss, neglectful.
When the bottom falls out from under us in an area of our lives, if we are not careful, the first thing to suffer is our service to Christ.
I can’t tell you the people that I have invited to church that tell me, “Well preacher, things are pretty messed up in my life right now. But if things ever get back to normal, I’ll come pay you a visit.”
It’s difficult for me to understand that. It is in the house of God where they will be able to get things together.
Christians do the same thing. We suffer a setback and the first thing to go is the ministry we are involved in at church.
Why is that?
When the bottom falls out, we tend to get weak hands.
2. Feeble Knees
Illus.: Bursitis in my knee
Feeble knees can debilitate you.
The word feeble means to totter or waver, to falter, stumble, faint or fall.
When the bottom fall out on us they may happen to us as well.
Especially if we allow it to keep us out of church.
We begin to question the things we once just took as a given. We begin to question God’s care for us.
Our faith can certainly be shaken.
Illus.: Tom Beckemeyer – Faith still strong despite the bottom falling out.
3. Fearful Heart
I don’t need to tell you the fear that struck me as I plunged beneath the sidewalk.
The word fearful here carries with it the idea of being hasty or headlong.
When the bottom falls out, fear is the knee-jerk reaction. We begin to wait for the other shoe to fall.
On September 11, 2001, the bottom fell out on America. Many now live in fear as to what will happen next. They are waiting for that other shoe to fall.
II. WHAT IS NEEDED WHEN THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT?
Again, the formula is clear from the word of God. There are three things that are absolutely necessary during times when the bottom falls out from under us.
1. Encouraging Hands
The word strengthen here means “to make bold, to sustain, or to encourage.”
Someone said once, “Encouraging is pouring courage into someone who needs it.”
When the bottom falls out there is nothing more helpful than encouraging hands.
I see a two-fold application here.
a. If we know someone on whom the bottom has fallen out, we need to have encouraging hands.
That’s what this body of believers is all about. Looking for those around us who may be going through a particularly difficult time, and seeking for ways to encourage them.
b. When the bottom falls out in our life, we need to have encouraging hands.
The easiest thing in the world when the bottom fall out is for us to sit and feel sorry for ourselves.
Get up and find someone else to encourage. And you’ll discover a wonderful thing. While you re trying to encourage them, you’ll find yourself encouraged.
2. Circumspect Knees
What????
The word confirm in verse 3 means to be courageous, bold, and alert.
In other words, to be circumspect.
If I had been paying closer attention that day, perhaps I could have avoided the problem in the first place.
Maybe I would have seen some cracks in the manhole and thought better of stepping on it.
I’ll tell you one thing, it’s taught me to watch where I’m going in the future. I don’t step on too many man holes at all any more.
Ephesians 5:15
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Be on the lookout for Satan and his devises. Determine not to be a target.
To walk circumspectly mean to walk diligently looking all around not leaving a stone unturned.
To give us a better idea of the impact of this word, let’s look at another place where it is used.
Herod used it in
Matthew 2:8 as he gave instructions to the wise men.
And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
Now we understand Herod’s true intention was to murder the Christ-child. But his instructions to the magi were clear. He wanted to know where he was. He was telling them to leave no stone unturned in their search.
As we are going about our “walk,” we must be circumspect. Why?
1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Rest assured that Satan is not going to relent in his battle against the souls of men and in his effort to knock the feet out from under the child of God.
We must be circumspect.
But why the analogy of the knees?
Circumspect knees?
Imagine you are in a jungle and you know there is a lion on the loose nearby. How are you going to walk.
You are going to have your gun ready.
You are going to be watching carefully.
You are going to have your knees slightly bent. (Ready to flee or pursue is danger approaches.)
As we walk through this life, there is a lion very nearby.
We had better keep our weapon sharp and nearby.
We had better be watching closely for him.
We had better have our knees flexed.
Ready to flee when temptation come our way.
Ready to pursue and attack with the Word of God.
So, we are to avoid being knocked off our feet, we had better have.
1. Encouraging hands
2. Circumspect knees
3. Courageous Heart – vs. 4a
“That’s easy for you to say, Preacher!”
“You don’t know what I’m going through right now!”
“The bottom has already fallen out on me and I feel like I’m lying flat on my back on the pavement!”
“To be quite honest, I don’t feel like having an encouraging heart. My knees have already buckled. And I certainly don’t feel very courageous right now.”
If God were requiring us to achieve all these things on our own, you would have a point.
So…
III. HOW IS THIS ACCOMPLISHED?
How am I to have encouraging hands even when my world is crashing down around my ears?
How am I supposed to have circumspect knees when I’m flat on my back?
How am I supposed to have a courageous heart when I don’t know where to turn next?
All these things come only as God intervenes.
Look at verse 4 again.
“Your God will come.”
What a tremendous promise!
But wait a minute!
Observation: Don’t expect God’s intervention if he isn’t your God.
Illus.: Angelbeck’s asking God to protect her daughter.
We see three things about God’s intervention.
1. It will involve revenge
“What are you talking about, Pastor?”
The word vengeance in vs. 4 carries with it the idea of revenge.
Illus.: A she bear protecting her cubs
“Pastor, I surely don’t see God’s intervention in my situation. In fact, I feel very alone.”
Where are you looking?
Let me bring this back to the physical realm once again.
As I laid on my back on the pavement, it would have been very easy for me to have said.
“God, where were you? Aren’t you supposed to be protecting me from things like this? After all, I was trying to serve you, and look where it got me!”
But I began to think, He was there.
I can think of no reason in the world why I didn’t break my leg.
Yes I was bruised and embarrassed, but my clothes weren’t even damaged.”
There is always more than one way to view a situation.
We can focus on what God could have done, or we can focus on what he did do.
His intervention will involve revenge.
2. It will involve rewards – vs. 4
“even God with a recompense.”
There are rewards awaiting the child of God.
Are we focussed on the difficulty, or are we focused the rewards we will receive as we respond in a Christ-honoring way.
If anything is clear in the word of God it is the fact that God rewards faithfulness.
1 Corinthians 3:8-9, 13-14
8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
Colossians 3:23-24
23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
If there was ever anyone who could have said the bottom fell out when he chose to serve God, it was Moses. He was in line for Pharaoh’s throne, yet he chose to serve God.
One day he was powerful, wealthy, and influential. The next he was fleeing for his life.
He could have easily been put out with God.
But listen to the Word of God in
Hebrews 11:24-26
24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
Curtis Hudson said, “You can take a lot on the trip, if you know what’s at the end.”
We get so wrapped up in today’s injustices and unfairness that we forget how the story’s going to end.
When God intervenes, it will involve
Revenge
Rewards
3. It will involve rescue
Look at the end of verse 4.
We have a promise of a rescue.
Illus.: Story of the two men on a desert inland with no food, and no hope of rescue. One wasn’t concerned. The other couldn’t understand why. He said that he made $100,000 per week and he tithed off of that. His Pastor would find them.
We have an assurance of a rescue.
No matter how bad things may look, we have a God that will rescue us.
Maybe not in the way we could imagine or in the timing that we would hope. But rest assured, when the bottom falls out, the rescue is coming.
Heads bowed
Appeal: I wonder if there are those here this evening on whom the bottom has fallen out.
You may have come in tonight thinking “That’s it. If God doesn’t give me something tonight, I’m through with Him.”
He wants to strengthen your weak hands.
He desires to confirm your feeble knees.
He longs to comfort your fearful heart.
Cory Ten Boom said, “There is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still.”
Everyone Standing
