Securely Connected to God

 

Admiral Byrd, the famous explorer, once found himself about 100 yards away from the safety of his South Pole hut when a sudden blizzard hit. With temperatures well below zero, visibility was difficult due to the blinding snow. There were no landmarks in the white expanse that would help him get his bearings. Yet he knew that if he didn’t find the warmth and safety of his hut, he would freeze to death in a matter of minutes. Admiral Byrd could not see his hut in the freezing conditions. He knew that if he struck out blindly, without a central reference point for a sense of direction, he would become hopelessly lost. Refusing to panic, the admiral assessed the situation. In his hand was a 10-foot pole that he carried with him to probe for holes in the ice as he walked. He struck the pole in the snow and tied his bright-colored scarf to it. Then he began looking for the hut, keeping the pole in sight, knowing that he could always return to it if necessary. He struck out, first in one direction, then in another, always keeping the pole and scarf in sight. Three times he returned to his point of reference; on the fourth try, he found his hut. His life was saved because he maintained a point of reference. 

 Such is the case with us when we venture away from God; we get lost in a world that is filled with mine fields of sin and destruction. There are times in our lives when we face heightened anxiety, loss, health and financial problems, and relational breakdowns with those we love. All this can create an emotional blizzard, blinding us to how to proceed in life. It is precisely in this moment that we cannot leave God behind. We must always keep in sight. The writer of Hebrews says, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19). Our hope in God always brings us back to Him.

God never gives up on us, even though we give up on ourselves. The Apostle Paul encouraged the Philippians, saying: “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” God does not do things halfway. What may seem to be a failure to God is simply a work in progress. Do not give up! Keep God in sight! Let Him be your anchor!

Not Everything Floats

James Dobson relates this story in his book, Stories of the Heart and Home. It’s entitled The Lost Marble.

 

When I was a boy, I heard a mystery program on the radio that captured my imagination. It told the story of a man who was condemned to solitary confinement in a pitch-black cell. The only thing he had to occupy his mind was a marble, which he threw repeatedly against the walls. He spent his hours listening to the marble as it bounced and rolled around the room. Then he would grope in the darkness until he found his precious toy.

 

One day, the prisoner threw his marble upward, but it failed to come down. Only silence echoed through the darkness. He was deeply disturbed by the “evaporation” of the marble and his inability to explain its disappearance. Finally, he went berserk, pulled out all his hair, and died. When the prison officials came to remove his body, a guard noticed something caught in a huge spider’s web in the upper corner of the room. That’s strange, he thought. I wonder how a marble got up there.

 

As the story of the frantic prisoner illustrates, human perception sometimes poses questions the mind is incapable of answering. But valid answers always exist. For those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, it just makes good sense not to depend too heavily on our ability to make the pieces fit—especially when we’re trying to figure out the Almighty. 

 

I sometimes tell people who are struggling to figure out the “Why” of their life this illustration: If you were on a ship and you pushed off an anvil, it would sink to the bottom of the ocean because it would not float. However, leaving it on the ship does not sink the ship. We all have questions that we cannot answer in life, no matter how hard we try. If we refuse to be patient and trust God for the answers, it will cause us pain. But if we wait, they will not sink the ship. Sometimes, with the passing of time itself, we answer our own questions; others will be answered in heaven by God himself. The important thing is our ability to trust God.