My husband and I enjoy rock climbing and here, in Hong Kong, we have some excellent granite slabs with fantastic panoramic views of the city. Hong Kong is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, because the concrete jungle blends with the natural jungle and can be best appreciated hanging from a 70ft rockface. But I am getting distracted, so back to the topic.
We recently went climbing on a granite slope that had no decent places for our hands to hold on to. I mean, the best piece of rock we could find to hold onto was protruding about 5mm - not even Catwoman would be able to claw onto that! We really had to use our legs and feet to ascend on this particular rock, so we had no choice but to put particular trust in our climbing shoes. You see, climbing shoes are designed to be very grippy so that if you use them correctly, you can stick to most walls like a gecko. For this particular climb, I learnt to put great trust in the stickiness of my shoes as I put my full weight on a tiny surface area. Once I mustered up the courage to trust my shoes to stick to that granite and not slide out from underneath me, I could actually ascend those very difficult routes. Actually, when I got to the top of the route, I was very surprised that I completed it (because frankly, it looked impossible from the bottom) only by trusting my shoes. This trust opened up new difficult routes and plausible successes for me. I now have more confidence in exploring my limits.
You see, trust opens up new experiences and expansions. If you trust your car’s wheels, you can experience the thrill of driving to a whole new level. If you trust the aeroplane, you can explore anywhere in the world.
Now, imagine what trust in the Lord will open up?!
Yes, trusting something or someone new or foreign can be scary. I tell you, I was really scared on that wall when my arms and legs started shaking like a soft boiled egg from the exertion 70ft off the ground. But I so dearly wanted to make this route. I wanted it so bad that I made the decision to trust my gear and just go for it. Hey presto! It worked and so the next route I could climb was even more difficult.
The same is true for our relationship with Christ. Sometimes we just cannot get a grip on a situation or even life - particularly during 2020. We try our best to find something to just hang on to so that we won’t fall, like money or friends or even alcohol or food. I get that. However, these things usually crumble under our fingers because they are just temporary and earthly. All things will eventually crumble away, except God. He is the only one that can offer a lifetime guarantee of trust, hope and love. He is the only one that cannot break His promises to you. He is the only one that cannot fail, because He IS truth and love.
Do not hold onto things that are temporal and created, but get a firm grip on Jesus your Saviour, because He is worthy of all our trust. It is good to recall that He died so that you can live and have life in abundance even in difficult and trying times. In fact, to daily bring to remembrance how and from what He has saved you and is still saving you is the best antidote for fear and unbelief. It takes humility to trust someone else.
If you do this, your life will open up to wondrous possibilities and adventures where you can climb to heights previously thought to be unattainable!
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
Isaiah 26:3-4
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
Psalm 56:3-4
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the
name of the LORD our God.
Psalm 20:7