When You Have Nothing Left To Lose

Have you tried everything in your own strength and now you have hit rock bottom? Do you feel you have lost everything that now you have nothing left to lose? Have you grown weary and are now just surviving? Today I have a word for you. What do you do when you’ve got nothing left to lose? Beloved, I feel your pain and I know it’s difficult for you. Tears are streaming down your face and you feel like God has forgotten you. I want to remind you that God has not forgotten about you. You might feel like He is silent but I promise you He is working on your behalf behind the scenes. 

But back to our story for today. Do you feel you have nothing left to lose? Have you, like the woman with the issue of blood, spent all you could to no avail? Have you been going through the same situation for a while now? Maybe you’ve resolved to think that things will never change. Is this your story? Let’s look at scripture to help us know what to do when you’ve hit rock bottom. 

It happened that four lepers were sitting just outside the city gate. They said to one another, “What are we doing sitting here at death’s door? If we enter the famine-struck city we’ll die; if we stay here we’ll die. So let’s take our chances in the camp of Aram and throw ourselves at their mercy. If they receive us we’ll live, if they kill us we’ll die. We’ve got nothing to lose.” 2 Kings 7:3‭-‬4 MSG

The back story was that these lepers lived at a time when there was a famine in the land of Israel. Take a look at the story. 

At a later time, this: Ben-Hadad king of Aram pulled together his troops and launched a siege on Samaria. This brought on a terrible famine, so bad that food prices soared astronomically. Eighty shekels for a donkey’s head! Five shekels for a bowl of field greens! 2 Kings 6:24‭-‬25 MSG

The famine had gotten so bad that these lepers did not know what to do. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place. First off because of their leprosy, they had been isolated. In fact, they lived outside the city gate. They were unclean so they could not even interact with them. Not only that they had no source of livelihood. So they were stuck. 

Let me ask you this. Do you feel stuck? Have you been experiencing leprosy in your life that has caused you to be isolated? Have you lost friends because you have been going through a wilderness season for a while now? And maybe because people assume you will always be in this situation, they have distanced themselves from you. Dear one, today I want to encourage you and tell you that your situation is not permanent. There will come a time for your redemption and your breakthrough. Things will not always remain as they are. Anyway, back to this story. 

The 4 lepers decided that because they had nothing left to lose, they might as well surrender to the enemy camp. After all, if they stayed where they were, they would die of hunger. So it did not matter to them whether the enemy would kill them. They just wanted to try their luck out. So this is what they did. 

The interesting thing was that God had already gone before them and they were surprised at what happened next. 

So after the sun went down, they got up and went to the camp of Aram. When they got to the edge of the camp, surprise! Not a man in the camp! The Master had made the army of Aram hear the sound of horses and a mighty army on the march. They told one another, “The king of Israel hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to attack us!” Panicked, they ran for their lives through the darkness, abandoning tents, horses, donkeys—the whole camp just as it was—running for dear life. These four lepers entered the camp and went into a tent. First they ate and drank. Then they grabbed silver, gold, and clothing, and went off and hid it. They came back, entered another tent, and looted it, again hiding their plunder. 2 Kings 7:5‭-‬8 MSG

These are 4 lepers who got more than they had expected. All they were looking for was food, but they came out wealthy. So what lessons can you learn when you’ve got nothing left to lose? 

Lessons to learn from this story when you’ve got nothing left to lose.

1. Take a step. 

When you’ve got nothing left to lose, it is best to take a step. There is no need for you to stay where you are. Your situation will never change when you don’t take any action. Let’s say you don’t have a job, but you have a business idea. Why not try your hand at that business? Who knows? That could be where your breakthrough comes from. Unless God tells you to do something repeatedly, you can shift your focus to something else. After all, you have nothing left to lose. And while it is true that the business might fail. It is also true it might succeed.

Who knows? And even if it fails, you will have learned a lesson or two that you can take with you into your next venture. Could it be that God has closed all doors of employment because He wants you to pursue a different path? Could it be that He is the One who placed that idea inside you in the first place? Why not try it? It is when you come to the end of yourself that God will come through. Sometimes maybe we are impeding God and that’s why things don’t seem to work. Therefore, He allows us to hit rock bottom so that He can come through for us. 

Today, focus on that thing you have always wanted to do. The best time to start is now. Resolve in your mind to do it anyway, just like the 4 lepers did. They knew they were damned if they did and damned if they didn’t. What is God nudging you to do but you are afraid to take that leap of faith? Do it anyway. Maybe God wants you to tell your story, but you are afraid of how people will view you. Who cares!? Tell it. They don’t understand you, anyway. Why are you so concerned when they don’t even get you?

2.  Do it scared

 Do not allow fear to hinder you from trying something new and going on a different path. Maybe that did not work out because God was not on it. The fear of past failures should not hinder you from starting something new. It might be different this time.  

The lepers did not allow the fear of the enemy to stop them from trying. They did it anyway. With every step they took, they were scared. They probably questioned themselves on the way. But they continued. You see there comes a time when regardless of the fear within you do what needs to be done. Faith does not always look like confidence. Sometimes faith is doing something scared. The fact that you take that step matters a lot. 

You might not have the experience you need to start a business. Do it anyway. Maybe for you, God is asking you to go do a different course in school, and don’t even feel qualified. Do it anyway. Maybe God wants you to apply for a job you are not qualified for. Do it. Don’t allow the fear of rejection to hold you back. Instead of focusing on what could go wrong, why not focus on what could go right? 

Don’t wait until you have everything figured out. If you wait for the right time, you will wait forever. God wants you to take that step and then He will open the door and give you the next instructions when you finish the first one. God has it already figured out. It is not for you to have all the pieces together. 

3. Go as you are. 

However, you are. As inexperienced as you are. Start as you are. The lepers did not wait until they were clean to receive their breakthrough. They went as they were. They did not even care that they were unclean. And you shouldn’t. There are moments when God will heal you in your place of breakthrough. God wants your weakness to reveal His strength for His glory. God will use your limitation in your favor. That is why IN Romans Paul reminds us that God will work everything together for our good. The very thing you feel disqualifies you is what God will use to qualify you. God is not waiting for you to be perfect so THAT he can use you. He used Peter in his weakness. He will do the same for you.

4. Your provision is on the other side of your faith. 

God had already handled the thing they were afraid of. And isn’t it interesting that the enemies scattered when they started their journey? Could it be the reason you are yet to experience your breakthrough is that you have not taken the first step? 

What if the very thing that you are afraid of God has already made a way for? Why would you want to stay stuck where you are when nothing is changing? God wants you to renew your mind and shift your mindset because your breakthrough is on the other side of your faith. 

And the cool thing was that God exceeded their expectation. Wow! All they were looking for was food. But God gave them riches too. You see, whatever God asks you to give up for His sake, HE will restore. And the best part is that when He restores, He will exceed your expectation. You might feel you are losing that very thing now. But I promise you, God knows how He will restore it. God wastes nothing. In His own way, He will use what you think you lost. And His way will be better than what you ever imagined. After all, He is the God of the exceedingly. Our God is more than able to blow your mind. Don’t hold on to what you have now. Surrender what God is asking you to surrender and trust His plan. His thoughts toward you are perfect and pure. 

Conclusion

It is difficult to be in that place where you have hit rock bottom and you feel you have lost it all. But today I want to encourage you to view it as an opportunity to try that thing you always wanted to. Instead of doing what you have been doing, do something different. After all, it is not working. And sometimes that could be God’s way of redirecting you. It could be He wants to shift your mindset to see the situation as He sees it.

After all, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Sometimes God will allow you to hit rock bottom so that He can reveal the plan He had for you all along. And maybe, had you not hit rock bottom, you would never have submitted to His will. Not that God is bad. What it means is that God will prevent you from receiving your wish to give you better. God will always exceed your expectation. And unfortunately, sometimes it could mean Him disappointing you now to redeem and restore later. God wants to see you step fully into all He has for you. Don’t waste this season. Instead, allow God to do His perfect work in you. By the time He is done with you, you will be lacking nothing.

What God has for you is greater than you could ever imagine. The way you are on now could seem like the right one. Who knows? It could lead to your destruction and God is trying to curb that. Submit to Him and surrender to His ways. When you get to the other side, you will be glad you allowed Him to lead your life. Below, I have some scriptures that will help anchor you when you have nothing left to lose.