“In my distress I prayed to the LORD, and the LORD answered me and set me free” (Psalms 118:5 ).

At the height of the HIV pandemic it was common to find households that had lost almost all adult children, as happened to one mother. When I met her this mother who had lost all her five sons had given up on life, and sat all day as still as a cold stone. According to 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Believers in Christ are urged to be “thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” But how do you give praise to God when like this mother you have hit the very bottom? This can be tough!

The Bible has one person who hit the bottom too! When we look at the life of David we might have reason to wonder how he handled it all. In his life King David would experience the dimensions of joy at killing Goliath (1 Samuel 17:51); to crushing grief from enduring a sleuth of tragedies: the loss of a best friend Jonathan in battle (1 Sam 31:2); being pursued and forced into exile by King Saul; the loss of a son ( 2 Samuel 12:19); the loss of a kingdom to a rebellious son, Absalom (2 Sam 15: 1-20), and much more.

For all these tragedies somehow David never lost his trust in God. When he had hit the very bottom, he wrote, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer” (2 Samuel 22:2). Down he looked to God for deliverance: “In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God … He drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me” (2 Samuel 22:7).

Any of us may hit the bottom, for such is life! But like David, may we not lose our faith but continue to look up to God for deliverance. “In my distress I prayed to the LORD, and the LORD answered me and set me free” (Psalms 118:5).

Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, sometimes we find ourselves at the very bottom, but like your servant David even when down and low, my our faith in you remain steadfast, because you deliver, this I pray in Jesus’s name!