We pass much of life— if not most of life—at mid-altitude. Occasionally we summit a peak: our wedding, a promotion, the birth of a child. But most of life is lived at midlevel.
Monday-ish obligations of carpools, expense reports, and recipes.
But on occasion the world bottoms out. The dune buggy flips, the housing market crashes, the test results come back positive, and before we know it, we discover what the bottom looks like.
Understanding Hitting Rock Bottom: Finding God’s Presence in Crisis
In Joseph’s case he discovered the auction block of Egypt. The bidding began, and for the second time in his young life, he was on the market. The favored son of Jacob found himself prodded and pricked, examined for fleas, and pushed about like a donkey. Potiphar, an Egyptian officer, bought him. Joseph didn’t speak the language or know the culture. The food was strange, the work was grueling, and the odds were against him.
So we turn the page and brace for the worst. The next chapter in his story will describe Joseph’s consequential plunge into addiction, anger, or despair, right? Wrong.
“The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian” (Gen. 39:2). Joseph arrived in Egypt with nothing but the clothes on his back and the call of God on his heart. Yet by the end of four verses, he was running the house of the man who ran security for Pharaoh. How do we explain this turnaround? Simple. God was with him.
“The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man.” (Gen. 39:2)
Joseph’s story just parted company with the volumes of self-help books and all the secret-to-success formulas that direct the struggler to an inner power (“dig deeper”). Joseph’s story points elsewhere (“look higher”). He succeeded because God was present. God was to Joseph what a blanket is to a baby—he was all over him. Any chance he’d be the same for you? Here you are in your version of Egypt. It feels foreign. You don’t know the language. You never studied the vocabulary of crisis. You feel far from home, all alone. Money gone. Expectations dashed. Friends vanished. Who’s left? God is.
God Is With You When You Are Hitting Rock Bottom
David asked, “Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run from you?” (Ps. 139:7 ncv). He then listed the various places he found God: in “the heavens . . . the grave. . . . If I rise with the sun in the east and settle in the west beyond the sea, even there you would guide me” (Ps. 139:8–10 ncv). God, everywhere.
Joseph’s account of those verses would have read, “Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? If I go to the bottom of the dry pit . . . to the top of the slave block . . . to the home of a foreigner . . . even there you would guide me.”
Your adaptation of the verse might read, “Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? If I go to the rehab clinic . . . the ICU . . . the overseas deployment office . . .the shelter for battered women . . . the county jail . . . even there you would guide me.”
You will never go where God is not. Make God’s presence your passion.
Choosing to Be a Sponge, Not a Rock When Hitting Rock Bottom
How? Be more sponge and less rock. Place a rock in the ocean, and what happens? Its surface gets wet. The exterior may change color, but the interior remains untouched. Yet place a sponge in the ocean and notice the change. It absorbs the water. The ocean penetrates every pore and alters the essence of the sponge.
God surrounds us in the same way the Pacific surrounds an ocean floor pebble. He is everywhere—above, below, on all sides. We choose our response: Rock or sponge? Resist or receive? Everything within you says harden the heart. Run from God; resist God; blame God.
But be careful. Hard hearts never heal. Spongy ones do.
With more than 140 million books in print, Max Lucado has been dubbed “America’s Pastor” by Christianity Today, “The Best Preacher in America” by Reader’s Digest, and the “Ted Lasso of Pastors” by the Dallas Morning News. His latest book is Never Give Up: God is Good When Life Isn’t, releasing in April 2025. Max Lucado has penned more than 40 works of adult nonfiction, standing alongside dozens and dozens of bestselling children’s books, gift books, Bible studies, commentaries, and collections. His books have been published in 56 languages worldwide and regularly appear on bestseller lists, including The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today. He has been pastoring in San Antonio at Oak Hills Church since 1988. Learn more at www.MaxLucado.com.
Hitting Rock Bottom? Max Lucado Has a Way Out
Max Lucado: You Will Never Go Where God Is Not
Rock Bottom Living
When Life Has You Down, Look Up
God is to You What a Blanket is to a Baby—All Over You
By Max Lucado
Excerpted from Never Give Up: God is Good When Life Isn’t (Thomas Nelson)
