Cliff-hanger moments

April 25, 2007

By William E. Richardson

“Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20, NIV).

The cliff-hanger is a common storytelling device. It creates interest at the end of chapters in novels to make you want to keep reading. It’s used at the end of some TV dramas so you’ll be sure to tune in next week. Before TV caught on, the I-want-to-know-what’s-next idea proved successful in serialized movies and radio programs.

However, cliff-hangers aren’t always entertaining, especially when they occur in our daily lives. An event erupts without warning at school or at work. Or your cliff-hanger comes after reading a letter, talking on the phone, or visiting the doctor’s office.

Suddenly, you feel like your feet are dangling in mid-air and you’re clinging to the root of a tree growing out the side of a cliff. A giant question mark presses down on you, like a weight on your shoulders. You whisper a prayer and wonder what will happen next.

In those cliff-hanger moments, the easiest reaction is panic. It’s also the worst. Panic clouds your thinking. Panic raises a wall between you and your best decision-making. But there’s hope.

It’s possible to get a foothold in the cliff. In that instant, and thereafter, dwelling on God’s presence is your answer. He promised to be with you no matter what. God is with you at that very moment as much as He was one minute before the surprise pushed you off the cliff.

The apostle Paul faced plenty of cliff-hanger moments. Reflecting on those scariest unexpected times, he could say, “I am persuaded that … ” He then rattled off a list of extreme situations he’d faced. He concluded that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). Nothing! God is with us.

To be that persuaded in your cliff-hanger moments is your lifeline for survival. You may still not know what will happen next, but God will always be bigger than your problem. What’s unknown to you is never unknown to Him. He’s ready to help you have Paul-like faith.

Like the elderly woman living in London during World War II. Someone asked her how she could remain so calm night after night when the Germans kept bombing the capital of England.

She answered, “Every night, I say my prayers and then I remember how the parson told us God is always watching; so I go to sleep. After all, there’s no need for both of us to stay awake.”

Are you resting like that, in the presence of God’s love? Whether finding your footing on solid ground or still hanging, wondering, are you secure in knowing that God is with you? That He’s both aware of your situation and attentive to your need?

It’s OK to ask, “What will happen next?” It’s better to pray, “God, I’m ready to trust You no matter what happens next because You’re always with me.”

William E. Richardson is senior pastor of Afton (Iowa) Assembly of God.