January 12, 2006

[Rev. Doc]

Trusting God Or The Rope

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6

There is a mountain climbing legend that goes like this:

They tell the story of a mountain climber, who desired to conquer the Aconcagua Mountain in Argentina, near the Chilean border. The Aconcagua Mountain is the highest mountain in the Andes, and the highest mountain in the western hemisphere. This man initiated his climb after years of preparation. This man decided he would climb this mountain all byhimself for he wanted all the glory to himself. He knew better, so against all advice he went up alone. He started climbing and soon it was getting later ... and later. He did not prepare for camping, but decided to keep on climbing higher and higher. Then it got dark ... night fell with a great heaviness at a very high altitude. Visibility was zero. Everything was black. There was no moon, and the stars were covered by clouds. He had no sense of direction, alone and no direction? As he was climbing a ridge at about 100 meters from the top, he slipped and fell. Falling rapidly he could only see blotches of darkness that passed. He felt a terrible sensation of being sucked in by gravity. He kept falling ... and in those anguishing moments good and bad memories passed through his mind. He thought certainly he would die. But then he felt a jolt that almost tore him in half. Like any good mountain climber, he had safely staked himself with a long rope tied to his waist. In those moments of stillness, suspended in the air he had no other choice but to shout, "HELP ME, GOD! HELP ME!" All of a sudden he heard a deep voice from heaven: "What do you want me to do?" "SAVE ME!" He replied. God answered, "Do you REALLY think that I can save you?" "OF COURSE, MY GOD, you can do anything." The man heard a voice, "Then cut the rope that is holding you up." There was another moment of silence and stillness.
The man just held tighter to the rope. The next morning the rescue team said that they found a frozen mountain climber hanging strongly to a rope ... two feet off of the ground.

Prayer: Ask God to help you trust more in His power and capabilities and not your own.

"Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment;... .but trust in GOD, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity."
~Dwight L. Moody