The Lowest Place

The Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia is the deepest hole ever drilled and the deepest artificial point on Earth. For two decades it was also the longest borehole at more than seven-and-a half miles. Drilling began in 1970 and ended in 1992 when the extreme heat made it impossible to run the equipment any deeper.

The original goal of the borehole was 49,000 feet while seeking to break through the Earth’s crust. There are basically three layers to our planet: the crust, the mantle, and the core. Geologists have been trying to drill down to the mantle, about 18 to 20 miles deep. (In the ocean, it is only about three miles deep.) So far no one has drilled through the elusive “Moho,” a nickname for the boundary between the crust and mantle.

There are other huge holes made by people: gigantic pits made for mining. Chuquicamata is an open-pit copper mine in Chile with the largest total production of copper in the world; it has a depth of 2,788 feet. The Udachnaya Pipe is a diamond mine in Russia at over 1,968 feet deep. But the Bingham Canyon Mine, a copper mine in the Oquirrh Mountains of Utah, is 3,937 feet deep and 13,123 feet wide (2.5 miles). It is the world’s largest man-made excavation.

God actually wants us to be at the lowest place. No, not in a hole in the Earth, but in our attitudes. Jesus told a story explaining how people often go to banquets and want to sit in the highest place. Sometimes the host asks them to move, and it is embarrassing to go down to the lowest place. You should “go to the lowest place” that you might be moved to the highest. Then Christ states, “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).

God’s physics are different than man’s. The Lord tells us that going down lifts you up. So why not bow down in prayer for the One who will someday exalt you?

Key Bible Texts

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: (1 Peter 5:6 KJV)