Hebrews 10:35
New International Version (NIV)
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
We once visited Calico, a ghost town in the hills north of Barstow California. It is a tourist trap that was run by Knotts Berry Farm for many years after 1950. Now it is run by the county. One of the sites in the old town is a mine. The miner dug back into the mountain for several hundred yards. He found nothing and eventually gave up. I have often thought of this poor miner. He slaved away for years with pick and shovel, carrying all his diggings out through the tunnel. It was backbreaking work in a hostile desert environment. He must have finally said to himself, there is no future here. I’m slaving away and I’ve found absolutely nothing I’ll carry out one more cart full of rock and then I’m giving up forever. This mountain contains only worthless rock. And he did.
Around 1881 someone else dug in from a different angle and found the richest vein of silver ever discovered in America just one yard from the end of this tunnel.The town of Calico grew up around this highly productive mine. Of course, that vein eventually ran out and today Calico is designated the Official State Silver Rush Ghost Town.
There have been times I have felt like this frustrated miner in my Christian experience. In my late teens and early twenties, I gave up on religion completely. Then a stranger took me under his tutelage as a reluctant student and I discovered the real Jesus who saves me not by my efforts but by His grace. Since then when God appears to have totally receded from my experience; when things appear to be going really bad, I will look back on this experience, and many others since then. I realize again that He is in control of my life and my destination. The perceived troubles shrink into their proper perspective and He sees me through them.
You have indeed, Lord Jesus, richly rewarded me; and will continue to do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment