“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10).
Mountain climbers love heights. Roller coasters are nothing to them; they want to be up really high. But climbing mountains can be incredibly dangerous. Oftentimes, experienced mountain climbers (mountaineers) will hang by a single rope off the side of a cliff. Dangling thousands of feet above the ground below them, climbers must be able to trust the rope that is holding them. If the rope breaks, they will die.
Mountaineers describe a good rope as their lifeline. In August 2011, Hans Bauer learned just how important it is to have a reliable rope. While climbing Cathedral Ledge, a cliff over three hundred fifty feet tall, Bauer unhooked a piece of his climbing gear by accident, causing him to free-fall for a hundred feet. He would have died, but his rope stopped his fall before he hit the ground. When his rope was examined later, it was barely still in one piece, but it had saved his life.
If you think putting that much trust in a rope is crazy, most people would agree with you. But while you may not want to put that much trust in a rope, God wants you to put that much trust in Him. In Isaiah 41:10 God promises to “uphold” us. For mountain climbers, there is nothing more important than having a rope they can absolutely trust to hold them up if they fall. God gives Christians that same confidence for daily life. When we come to the most difficult parts of our lives, just as mountaineers can trust the strength of their rope, we can trust that God is in control of everything that happens and that He will help us through even the most difficult circumstances if we trust Him.
We can trust God in even the most difficult situations of life because He has promised to uphold us.
My response: When bad things happen in my life, do I trust God’s promise to uphold me?