Do we trust Him when the cliff’s edge is where we stand?
Do we trust Him to catch us when our petitions didn’t build a road and we’re falling?
…when the healing doesn’t come?
…when the expected answer isn’t given in our earth-bound terms?
…when life unravels at the very seams?
…while facing the death of our dreams, our hopes, our loved ones, our selves?
…when the diagnosis doesn’t have a cure?
…for the walking away?
…when all we once knew is spilled out?
Who is our God to us then?
Because who He is to us then, is who He really is to us.
Her text came after months of an emotional and spiritual battle. When all she knew for 18 years was about to change. Drastically. And finally, finally there was relief. Her praise has been all along, all through the worst of it, but this time, thank God, her praise came with relief.
“Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.”
Matthew 11:28 AMP emphasis added
Relief because she could see it now and she was about to see even more, God’s glory in an abundant outpouring of love and grace:
“I had no idea what was to come out of it but God did…he knew all along. I remember looking up at the heavens and talking to and sometimes even yelling at God on my way home from work as the time grew near….Asking Him what I’m supposed to do now?! I felt ripped apart inside! But I tell you what…never, ever would I take back any part of this experience for a second!! So many blessings I have had through it all. My heart has not been this close to God for such a long time and I absolutely love it!! God is so very good!”
And as I read them over my heart extended across the miles because I knew. I drove the same road with a different story but the same question. And don’t we all? Don’t we all find ourselves wrestling with a God who, in His love, doesn’t work it out our way? A God who doesn’t always build roads but who lets us fall? Something deep within us breaks and we are vulnerable and on the edge of the very cliff we shook our fists against. We cry out in our desert asking for the rains to flood our needy souls. Moments that linger all the more longer and feel anything but momentary. And where do we go from here? What do we do now?
What did Jesus do? He begged and pleaded, sweat until he bled while asking for His cup to be removed, but still choosing His Father’s Sovereign will for his life. He chose the cross. He chose to fall. Would it take the same from us? That He would ask us to die to ourselves, to our own wants, our own ways, in order to find the full life that He offers? “I have came that they may have life, and have it to the full.“ John 10:10 Jesus trusted His Father enough to catch Him. And in the greatest act of Love ever to grace this earth, He did. He caught Him. And He will catch us.
“God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in sea storm and earthquake. Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains. Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God of Angel Armies protects us.”
Psalm 46:1-3 MSG emphasis added
Every desert we find ourselves in holds a river if we are wise to find it. But we must look with different eyes, because it can not be found as long as we look with eyes bound to this world. And those who are in the desert, who understand the scorching heat of the sun, those are the ones who see His glory displayed when the river is found. Those are the ones who allow these times to bring them closer still to the heart of our Amazing God. “Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God.” 1 Peter 1:18 MSG
I go back to the old gray man whose eyes glisten with Christ and whose hands tell the story of a life well lived, a life lived full. A life that has surely plowed fields with fists raised at His Heavenly Father. A life that has seen the harvest time and time again as our Lord answered. A life that has broken itself, came to the very end of itself and died to itself so that it would be more like its Savior. And when you live a life like that, other’s find Him through you. So it seems fitting that right in the midst of all the falling, this man’s prayer said:
“…that we would have strength to live as a testimony, thank You
for sending Your Son. Amen”
Our deserts seem dry of much else this life offers but He is a Fountain that never runs dry. He offers full life, life that conquered death. When we’re in the wilderness or falling hard off the edge we must lean in to Him. He is a safe place to be. And when we choose Him, when we choose to trust beyond the moment, beyond the circumstance, beyond our selves, then our lives testify to His Goodness, His Mercy, His Grace and His Faithfulness.
“Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.” Isaiah 35:6-7 emphasis added
Every moment of our lives has the chance to define our lives. May we have the strength to live our lives as a testimony to a God who is Worthy of our selves.
“Be careful, keep calm, and do not be afraid. Do not lose heart…” Isaiah 7:4
"I was right on the cliff-edge ready to fall, when God grabbed and held me. God's my strength, he's also my song, and now he's my salvation. Hear the shouts, hear the triumph songs in the camp of the saved?...I didn't die. I lived! And now I'm telling the world what God did...This is the very day God acted - let's celebrate and be festive! Oh yes, God - a free and full life!... You're my God, and I thank you. O my God, I life your praise on high. Thank God - he's so good. His love never quits!"
from Psalm 118 MSG
“Who would have thought a path that began so poorly would take
me to a place that radiated so much life and beauty, hidden
deep in the forest, unseen by most.”
Streams by Pura
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