Have you ever had to do a trust fall? You know the thing where you stand on something and fall back “trusting” the person/persons love you enough and have quick enough reflexes to not let you experience a concussion…A few years back I helped out with a leadership camp for the local Rotary club. I’m still not sure how, but regardless I was there as a counselor. It was my choice whether or not I participated in the activities but since I didn’t want the kids to think me a wimp (which I totally am…) I decided I would join them.
By the time we reached the end of the low ropes course we had done numerous things together and I had even let them lift me and put me through this spider web thing head first (after making sure I hadn’t made any of them upset with me of course…). You would think by the end of that course that I trusted my kids.
Well lucky us the last activity was a trust fall. I hopped up on the stump and started to fall only to have my knees buckle at the last moment. The kids, of course, gave me a hard time for my apparent lack of trust in them. I made up some excuse, regained my composure and climbed back on the stump.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding…” Proverbs 3:5 NKJV
So here I am standing on a really tall stump. It looks like a long way down. And I can hear God saying, “Do you trust Me? Then just fall into Me.”
And there I stand. “Ummm let’s test Your reflexes first – you know You are kind of old if You’ve been around since before time” or “Are you sure I’m not going to be in the process of falling when a crisis arises on the other side of the world and You forget to catch me?”
I lean on my own understanding a lot – analyzing, processing, planning, etc. So when God says, “Just fall back on Me, I’ve got you” – well honestly a lot of times my knees buckle the first time or two just like with my camp kids.
I’m learning to fall. It’s a process and I am ok with that because I know it’s possible to trust enough to fall and be safe – I’ve managed it at least once before. And I’m pretty certain God is more reliable than my campers, although they proved trustworthy too.
Why do we lean on our own understanding when time and time again we’ve proven we are just cute, dumb sheep? Why don’t we fall into God who has shown His faithfulness and trustworthiness countless times?
So I challenge you (and me) to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and lean into God trusting He will catch you (He’s got pretty big hands) and if He’s asking us to trust Him with something there’s probably a good reason.
