Leadership Thought: A Hazing Story I Will Never Forget

Dear Friend,

You may have heard the expression, "God holds us in the palm of His hand."

The idea that God holds us with His hand derives from Isaiah who writes, "For I am, the Lord Your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you do not fear; I will help you" (Isaiah 41: 13).

Whatever we are going through, no matter how troubling or painful it may be, we can be assured that God's strength is holding and keeping us, and that His hand will never let us go.

Pastor Jon Courson writes, "When my children were young and were crossing the street I would say, 'Hold on to daddy's hand,' and they would. But if, out of forgetfulness or fatigue, they loosened their grip, it wouldn't matter because although they thought they were holding my hand, in reality, I was holding theirs- and I would never let go." 

So, too, we think we're holding on to the Lord, but in reality, He's holding on to us. We are kept and held by his power.

Courson continues, "A young man who was being hazed by his college fraternity was taken to a secluded spot where he was told to hold on to a knot at the end of a greased rope, as his fraternity brothers lowered him into a dark well. Thinking they would pull him up after a few minutes, he was terrified to see them tie their end of the rope to the bar across the top of the well, leaving him suspended in midair."

"'This can't be!'" he thought, as he called for help, but none came."

"As he approached the fifteen-minute mark, his arms aching unbelievably, and his shoulders feeling as though they were on fire, he started to cry."

"Finally, after about twenty torturous minutes, able to hang on no longer, he let go and fell two inches-, just as his fraternity brothers had calculated." 

Jon then asks, "Isn't that just like us?" We cry out, "Where are you, God?"  "I don't know if I'm going to make it." We fret, blubber, and scream until we finally let go, and guess what we discover that our solid rock, Jesus Christ, was there all the time."

Jon concludes his commentary by pointing out "that a bunch of us have burning shoulders and aching arms for absolutely no reason. We're trying to hang on through our own efforts, by our own spirituality. We get disgusted with ourselves and worried we're not going to make it. If we would just let go of the rope and rest in what Jesus did on a cross of Calvary, we would realize it's not our puny efforts that will see us through, but the power of God." (New Testament Application Commentary, Jon Courson, 

p.1544)

Thanks, Jon, for that wonderful reminder that we are safely held in the hands of our loving Father.

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom

P.S.  Oswald Chambers writes, "We are like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and he stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says,  'I cannot stand anymore.' God does not heed. He goes on stretching until his purpose is in sight, then he lets fly."