Like a String in a Cave

Many of our difficulties and sorrows in life have come to us because we have chosen our own path, done our own will, rather than seeking God’s will for our lives. Long ago the wise leader, Moses, exhorted the Israelites to stand still and “hear what the Lord will command concerning you.” (Numbers 9:8)  Hearing His commands (and obeying that voice that speaks in your heart) is the secret to a blessed life.

The path of obedience is sometimes through the dark. But, though the way be dark, it is the way. When Noah began walking with God, he certainly did not know all that lay ahead: how obeying the bare word of God would bring him into collision with his entire generation - and even into collision with the proddings of common sense, and with much that any man would naturally hold dear in life. But as he walked one day at a time in obedience, trusting in the word of command of his almighty Guide, he grew stronger and stronger in his simple reliance on that guidance. He held on to that word tenaciously, grasping it as men in the deep dark of underground caves and tunnels will keep their hand firmly on a tiny cord until they reach the first streak of light.

In obeying God’s directions, we also must often learn to wait. Noah’s true heart did not fail him although he had to wait 120 years to see the fulfillment of God’s word to him.

It is not easy for any of us to bear the strain of waiting. It’s easier for the natural man to rush in, to do something dramatic or desperate, to do something to “help” God. But to toil on faithfully, without results, in quiet obedience, that is hard indeed. It might even completely wear down our fragile hope – unless our hope is firmly anchored beyond life’s ebb and flow.