I’m in a hole, and there’s no way out!
I’ve been there. I’ll bet you have as well. It’s the moment of truth, the time you’re tempted to quit.
After all, what’s the point? If there’s no way out, why bother? Why bang your head against an impossible-to-defeat brick wall?
The entire story of Relentless Grace turns on just such a moment. Following my injury and the initial recovery from surgery and ICU, physical therapists loaded me into my first wheelchair and presented my first physical goal: they put a strip of red tape on the floor and challenged me to push my chair ten feet without stopping.
That ten-foot mark on the smooth tile floor was an impossible barrier. I was weak, discouraged, and hopeless, and I couldn’t imagine any scenario in which I’d develop the skill and strength required to push myself more than a foot or two at a time.
Given my combination of physical atrophy and spiritual hopelessness, ten feet might as well have been ten miles. On my own, I’d never have made it.
I was in a hole, and from where I sat there was no way out.
I learned an important lesson from that strip of tape. I didn’t learn it quickly, and apparently I didn’t learn it completely because I seem to continually fall into the same trap.
Just because I can’t see a way out doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
We waste a good deal of time and effort struggling to find our own escape from holes. We’re convinced that we’re self-sufficient, capable of doing it on our own. And when we can’t find our own route to freedom we’re certain it’s time to quit.
All the while, Jesus offers to journey with us and do the heavy lifting. God pleads with us to trust Him, lean on Him, and believe His promises. Jesus continues His offer of hope from The Marathon:
“I’ve been here before, and I know the way out.”
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