A pastor may sometimes experience being at the bottom of life.

The officials took the prophet Jeremiah and lowered him

by ropes into the cistern of the royal prince Malchiah,

which was in the courtyard of the guard.

The cistern had no water, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud

(Jeremiah 38:6).

As I meditate on this passage,

I am reminded of the prophet Jonah, who disobeyed God's command.

When he prayed to his God from the belly of the great fish

(Jonah 2:1), he described himself as being in the deep waters (vv. 3, 5)

and sinking down to the roots of the mountains, imprisoned in the land of death (v. 6).

Yet, despite his situation, the prophet Jonah prayed to God,

saying, "But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you.

What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord" (v. 9).

As a result, the Lord saved the prophet Jonah’s life from death (v. 6).

If the Lord rescued the disobedient prophet Jonah,

wouldn’t He also save the prophet Jeremiah, who was obeying God’s word?

The Lord used Ebed-Melech, the Ethiopian court official, to go to King Zedekiah and say,

"Your Majesty, what these men have done to the prophet Jeremiah is an evil act.

They have thrown him into a cistern, and he will starve to death there

since there is no bread left in the city."

So, King Zedekiah commanded Ebed-Melech, "Take thirty men from here with you

and lift the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies."

Thus, the prophet Jeremiah was rescued from the pit where he had been trapped

(Jeremiah 38:7-13).

It seems that even pastors, who are servants of the Lord, may sometimes experience

being at the bottom of life, like being in a pit or the depths of the sea.

Such experiences can lead them to feel a sense of despair.

However, the great grace of God given in those desperate situations is

 that the Holy Spirit makes them long for the Lord even more and fills them with hope,

ultimately allowing them to experience God's salvation.