At the End of the Rope-Let Go

We’ve all no doubt heard the saying “when you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” It’s attributed to Thomas Jefferson who may have more than once in his life felt that he was at the end of his rope. After all he had to deal with the Continental Congress over the wording of the Declaration of Independence. Later, as the third President he had to make political decisions and of course there were his dealings with France over the Louisiana Territory. Although he praised the morality of Jesus’ teachings, he could not accept any supernatural intervention in human lives, and believed that each person had to take care of their own destiny.

Tying a knot in your rope is a solution we work out by ourselves and for ourselves, but may not be the one God has in store. Even if Jefferson maybe couldn't accept it, there are times when God steps in and we have to let go of that rope that feels so safe.

I am reminded of the often told joke of the man walking in the mountains who stepped too close to the edge and started to fall. In desperation he reached out and grabbed a limb of a gnarly old tree hanging onto the side of the cliff. Full of fear he assessed his situation. He was about 100 feet down a shear cliff and about 900 feet from the floor of the canyon below. If he should slip again he'd plummet to his death. Full of fear, he cries out, "Help me!" But there was no answer. Again and again he cried out but to no avail.

Finally he yelled, "Is anybody up there?"
A deep voice replied, "Yes, I'm up here."

"Who is it?"

"It's the Lord"

"Can you help me?"

"Yes, I can help."

"Help me!"

"Let go."

Looking around the man became full of panic. "What?!?!"

"Let go. I will catch you."

"Is anybody else up there?"

There are people in the Bible who felt they had to tie a knot in their rope and hang on. Elijah, fresh from his victory over the priests of Baal, finds himself fleeing from the vengeance of Queen Jezebel. “Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’” (I Kings 19:9-10)

Naomi also felt that she was at the end of her rope and that God had treated her harshly. When she returns to Bethlehem, she tells everyone, “Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has afflicted me and the Almighty has brought calamity on me?” (Ruth 2:20-21).

Both Elijah and Naomi thought they were at the end of their rope over a very deep canyon. Tying a knot into your rope only works for so long, eventually you have to either let go or start climbing up the rope. There is one other solution. That is the one that Elijah and Naomi discovered. You can let God take over.

Elijah meets God in the still small voice at the cave on Mt. Horeb and was empowered to “anoint Hazael as king over Aram…Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and…Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place.” (I Kings 15-16)

Naomi finds comfort and a new direction to her life with a new family consisting of Ruth, Boaz and their son Obed. In my book Naomi’s Joy, she tells her family, “I have learned that the One God does indeed answer prayers and heal pain. It was a long journey for me. I was so bitter. The hand of God seemed always raised against me. From the time my father died in the desert, I feared that the Holy One would strike me down for some indiscretion. I struggled to do all that was required and never dared believe that God would care about me. Not even the signs and wonders I saw could convince me that the Almighty cherished the Children of Israel. All I saw were the laws to be obeyed. I dreaded the punishment that I was sure would come…I grew up knowing that the God of Sinai was present. What I did not learn was that I AM was not among us for terror but for love.”*

There have been times when I thought I was at the ‘end of my rope,’ too. Each of us can probably relate. Nothing seems to be going right. There’s not enough money to go around. Health issues come up or job loss or unexpected expenses-the list could go on and on. Desperately we tie a knot in our fraying rope and hang on. Or we try to pull ourselves to the top in our own strength. Paradoxically it is in Letting Go of our own efforts that we can allow God to pull us to safety. Sometimes, though, God requires us to do more than quit struggling so God can pull us up. There are times when we have to actually release the rope and fall into the hands of the Loving God.

Letting go is usually the last thing we want to do. However as Naomi and Elijah learned, falling into the hands of the Living, Loving God is often the only way to really save your life. When you are at the end of your rope and tying a knot into it doesn’t help, listen for the voice of God saying ‘Let go, I’ll catch you.” Then trust that God will indeed do that just as God did for Elijah and Naomi. 

Free fall after letting go of your rope-your lifeline can give you the sense of being 'out of control.' There are other times in life when we feel out of control. As we will discover next time, when life is out of control-God is really IN control. 

*Naomi’s Joy by Cynthia Davis © 2005. Available on Amazon.com or CynthiaDavisAuthor.com