A young woman named Brenda shared an amazing story (1). She was invited to go rock climbing. Although very scared, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took a hold on the rope, and started up the face of that rock. She finally got to a ledge where she could catch her breath. As she was hanging there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda’s eye and knocked out her contact lens. Now she’s on a rock ledge with hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet above her. She looked as best she could, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it wasn’t there. She was desperate and started to become upset, so she prayed for help to the Lord to help her find it.
She resumed her climb, blurry eyes and all. When she got to the top a friend examined here eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was no lens to be found. She sat down despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting for some others to complete the climb. She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of the Bible verse, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.” She thought, “Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me.”
Finally they walked down the trail to the bottom. At the bottom there was a new party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, “Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?” That’s amazing enough.
But you know how the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock carrying the lens on its back.
Brenda’s father is a cartoonist so he drew a cartoon with an ant lugging that contact lens – underneath he put the words: “Lord, I don’t know why You want me to carry this thing. I can’t eat it, and it’s awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I’ll carry it for you.”
The conclusion: “I think it would probably do some of us good to occasionally say, ‘God, I don’t know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it’s awfully heavy. But if You want me to carry it, I will.” God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called. ”I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.””
Perhaps you feel you’ve been asked to carry quite a load lately. It’s been heavy. But just perhaps, if you continue to carry it in faith, others will soon be able to see life clearly once again. So, when your vision gets blurry, remember the ant!
And in the meantime, reach out to Jesus.:
Is your burden heavy as you bear it all alone?
Does the road you travel, harbor dangers yet unknown?
Are you growin’ weary in the struggle of it all?
Jesus will help you with all his name you call.
Is the life you’re living filled with sorrow and despair?
Does the future press you with its worry and its scare?
Are you tired and jealous, have you almost your way?
Jesus will help you, just talk to him today
He’s always there hearing every prayer, faithful and true
Walking by our side, in his love we hide all the day through
When you get discouraged just remember what to do
Reach out to Jesus, he’s reaching out to you. (2)
(1) Elliott, Elisabeth. Keep a Quiet Heart. Vine Books, 1995. ISBN 0-892-83906-6 (p. 119).
Ms. Elliot attributed the story to a first-person account sent to her by Brenda Foltz of Princeton, Minnesota, who maintained she wrote it based upon an event that occurred during her first rock-climbing experience.
(2) Ralph Carmichael
We have a security system at our house. I know it works because we’ve accidentally tripped the alarm on more than one occasion. But there is also a code we can punch in at the control box which, we’ve been told, would immediately bring emergency assistance without setting off the alarm. But how do we really know? Sometimes I would like to punch in the code just to see if anyone comes quickly. But unless I want to get into deep trouble, I need to trust and believe.
will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” To ‘dwell’ is to trust God – to put all your weight on Him. Think of climbing a rock wall. Once you put your weight in the harness and trust the person holding the rope, you feel safer and therefore can climb easier and higher.