Can I Let Go?

There is a great story about a man who was walking along a forest trail when he came upon a canyon. It was dark enough that he couldn’t see into the canyon and when he got too close the dirt underneath him began to crumble. Loosing his footing he started to fall and desperately grabbed for anything he could get his hands on. He ended up hanging off the drop off with just his hands holding onto rocks and branches at the edge. Try as he might he couldn’t pull himself up and realized that he couldn’t hold on very long. He just knew that if he let go he’d fall to his death in the canyon below. What could he do? He tried yelling for a while, but there was no one that could hear him. He cried out to God…help!

He heard an answer. Audible or not…he heard God say to him “Let Go.” How crazy was that. Let go? If he let go he’d fall to his death. That couldn’t have been God’s voice. But he heard it again… “Let Go!” Whether he wanted to or not he might have to let go just because he couldn’t hold on much longer, but to deliberately let go…that didn’t make any sense.

He argued with God for some time about letting go and eventually he came to the place where he realized he had no other choice. So, with an additional prayer to God asking for Him to protect him, he let go…and fell three feet to a ledge that he hadn’t seen before! He landed safe. God did know what He was talking about.

How often do I say that I “trust” God and have complete faith in Him, but then contradict my words by my daily actions? It seems like I must take care of myself. I must make the money. I must make the decisions. I must fix the problems. I must…

Some people believe that the Bible says: “God helps those who help themselves.” The majority of us practice that and because we do there is little peace and joy in the Christian experience. We are hanging on for dear life when God says “Let Go!”

Trust is letting go. It is letting God be God and trusting that He will do what He has said He will. He tells us that He wants to provide for us. (See Matthew 6:33) Jesus says that when we have problems that we come to Him and He gives us peace and rest (See Matthew 11:28) He says that He came to give us life abundantly (See John 10:10)

So we have a choice…hold on and work hard or “Let Go” and trust God.

I’m going to let go today and TRUST!