There was a young mountaineer who planned to scale a high mountain peak. He was an atheist.
He believed in his own strengths. Friends persuaded him to ask for God’s help before he began to scale the peak, but he refused, saying he can make it on his own.
He began preparing himself and then took the climb. He climbed for several hours when suddenly he slipped, but thankfully the rope he held on to was entangled in a protruding branch amidst the rocks. He never dared to look down. Below was a steep valley and a raging river.
After much thinking, he decided to call on God. He looked heavenwards and said, “Lord, I have been an atheist all these years but now, I need help. Can you hear me?” He heard the voice of God saying, “Take the knife and cut the rope.” This really bothered him.
He replied, “God, for the first time, I’m asking you for help and you are asking me to cut the rope?” The dialogue went on for a while. But he never dared to look down.
He finally refused to cut the rope.
The next day, early in the morning, rescue workers found this young man, holding the rope tightly, frozen in the night’s cold and dead. He was just five feet above the ground.
God knows what is best for us. We need to listen to His voice. Earthly security cannot match the security God promises us.
The ‘rope’ can symbolise many things to us; things and people that we hold onto for security that prevent us from listening to the voice of God. Our greatest security is the Lord for He sees the whole context of our life from His vantage point and so directs us.
The Psalmist pronounces so beautifully his trust in the Lord: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2)
All earthly security may fail us at times but God never fails us. As the Psalmist sings, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song (Psalm 29:7).
What is the rope you are holding onto that God wants you to leave?