The story is told of a man who fell over a cliff. As he tumbled down, he managed to grasp hold of the branch of a tree growing out of the cliff face. Clinging on for dear life he cried out,
“Help! Help! Is there anyone up there?
A voice replied. “Yes. Me”.
“Who is that?” asked the man.
“It’s the Lord, God”, came the reply.
“Can you help me?”
“Yes. Let go of the branch”, said the voice above.
“What?”
“Let go!”
After a moment’s hesitation the man cried out, “Is there anyone else up there?”.
Little did he know that level ground was less than a metre below his dangling feet.
The Bible is full of God’s promises to those who will trust him. The question is, do we stand on those promises? Circumstances can throw us around and cause anxiety and despair, but as one well known British pastor said to a church member who replied to his question, “How are you?” with “Alright under the circumstances”, said, “What are you doing under the circumstances?”.
Scripture tells us that we live by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) and that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Faith is defined as “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:6).
One of my favourite scriptures is Proverbs 3:5, 6: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will direct your paths.” I don’t always find that easy, but it reminds me of my dependence on God. Sometimes God needs to trial, test and teach us to acknowledge our own weaknesses and trust him. Take Peter, for example. After a night’s fruitless fishing, Jesus told him to take his boat out in the morning and throw his nets out. This was the wrong time to fish as an experienced fisherman like Peter knew only too well. However, “They caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break” (Luke 5:6). On another occasion, the ‘brave’ Peter asked Jesus if he could walk on the water like Jesus was doing. When Jesus invited him to do so, Peter walked on the water and came toward Jesus, but when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:29-42). Yet again, when Peter challenged Jesus’ foretelling of his imminent death, the Lord replied, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Even when challenged by a housemaid at Jesus’ trial, Peter fearfully denied being his disciple. Finally, after the resurrection, Jesus asked Peter three times. “Do you love me?”. You see, all this was humbling preparation for what was to come after Pentecost when Peter was mightily used in leadership and the spreading of the gospel.
So, who are you trusting?
The Psalmist declares, “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.” (Psalm 146:3)
I am reminded of the words of a well-known hymn:
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
We live in difficult and challenging times when it’s easy to look around and be discouraged. However, we be need also to look up and in doing so, support each other as Jesus did (Philippians 2:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:11), remembering that “[God] is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” (Deuteronomy 34:2).
I recommend a YouTube video by John Maxwell on Intentional Living which encourages us to trust God (https://youtu.be/r5BnVgOfOq8)
– Ivan.
