"But he said, “I will not let You go unless you bless me.” - Genesis 32:26
"You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name. He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen." - Deuteronomy 10:20-21
"For he clung to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments..." - 2 Kings 18:6
I remember many, many years back when wall climbing was not even the widely accepted sport that it is today. There was this place in Tandang Sora where we decided to give it a try. The goal was simple enough. Climb up the wall. Was there a chance of falling back to the ground? None. There was someone "belaying" you, making sure that even if your grip slipped you wouldn't fall.
All I had to do was use each small stump on the wall as a handhold or foothold to give me leverage going up. Easy enough in principle but in application it was really painful. My hands and fingers were not used to it and not strong enough. I could barely hold on long enough with my fingers to propel me to the next handhold. I could barely hold on long enough with my feet and legs to propel me, and anchor me to the next foothold. Amazingly, wall climbers who have been doing this long enough seemed to do it with ease. Their hands, fingers and body were strong enough through practice. They could easily hold on till they saw the next handhold or foothold and propel themselves to it.
I can't help but compare this to the Christian life. The goal is simple enough. Know (sakal and yada:Hebrew) Christ and make Him known. This is the "top of the wall". Is there a chance for us to lose our salvation? None. Just like the safety given by the person "belaying" me. There is no more condemnation for those in Christ. My position in Him will not change. I will not be moving up, I may slip and lose my grip from time to time but I will not fall back down to the ground.
How do we get there? There are footholds, handholds that help us get to the top. These are found in His word. His commands. His promises. His character. These are what we cling to to get to the top. Is it painful to hang on to these promises? To obey these commands? You bet! At first it will get painful because we are not used to it yet. Also, one thing I'm learning is that in principle its easy to hold on to these promises. But its a totally different thing altogether when application time comes. Its easy to find these promises and quote them to a brother or sister going through something. Unfortunately, if you are like me, when it is I that is going through something, its a bit more difficult and sometimes even painful to hang on to these handholds/footholds.Yet with practice our fingers, our muscles become stronger and our journey to the top of the wall gets easier.
Also, there are no elevators to the top. God reveals Himself, His power and faithfulness progressively, handhold by handhold, foothold by foothold. Like a lamp unto our feet guiding us with light enough, hope enough to make the next step forward in the journey.
If like me you are climbing, struggling, wrestling to reach the top of the wall in your Christian life and find that sometimes you slip. Keep going. Earnestly look for those handholds. Earnestly look for those footholds. Cling to them. Hold on to them. Don't let go. Keep going. Don't let the accusations of the enemy get you down. You are safe. Jesus is your safety. His finished work on the cross "belays" you. Keep going. Keep looking up. Keep climbing. We are almost there.
Have a great week everyone! God bless us all :)
