FALLING AFTER DARK
There is a story told about a construction worker. This construction worker was employed on a high-rise building project, which required him and others to work after dark. He was busy on the edge of one of the walls which was many stories high, when he suddenly lost his balance and fell.
As he fell over the edge, he managed to grab the edge of the wall with his fingertips. Desperately he hung on hoping that somebody would discover his perilous situation. He was in total darkness, just about hanging on to the wall, and crying out loud for help. Due to the noise and machinery at the construction site, no one could hear him; all his screams were in vain.
Very soon his arms begin to grow weak and his grip began to slip. He tried praying, but no miracle occurred. At last his fingers slipped from the wall and with a cry of horror he fell! He fell exactly 3 feet and landed on a scaffold that had been there all the time. But he had not seen it because of the darkness.
When we face various crises in life, sometimes we feel that we are all alone, desperately doing all we can to save ourselves, crying out for help but feeling unheard, until finally we lose all our own strength and let go. It is then that we discover that we were never in any real danger to begin with.
Oftentimes we give in to fear and discouragement in times of crises because we do not know or see that we are safe in God’s hands. We do not see because of the darkness that surrounds us--not literal darkness but the darkness of unbelief.
(From a sermon by Gordon Curley, Preparing for A showdown, 11/18/2010)