II Samuel
22:21-23:23; Acts 2:1-47; Psalm 122:1-9; Proverbs 16:19-20
“With my God
I can scale a wall” (II Sam. 22:10b) are words that speak of a seemingly impossible
feat. I don’t see how anyone can scale a wall, much less I who am chubby and neither
dexterous nor flexible.
But I do remember
learning to scale down a wall when we lived in Austin. We were having
Survival Camp on our new church property. The beautiful seventy-five acre plot
of virgin land hadn’t been cleared yet and it was the perfect opportunity to
bring our elementary kids onto the property and provide some adventures for
them and some Bible lessons. We laid out a map of the property as a facsimile
of Israel’s conquest of the land of the Philistines. We gathered as tribes on
the first morning of Camp, and together we ‘crossed the Jordan River’ which, OK, I admit, was a small stream on
the land, but hey, it was water and we all crossed it on our way into the ‘Promised
Land’.
One of the
adventures we offered for the 5th and 6th grade kids was rappelling.
Two trained college men who had led rappelling at another camp were in charge
of this. We thought that some of us leaders should try rappelling first,
before we asked the kids to use their courage and try it. And that is how I
came to be at the top of a cliff in a harness, anchored to the top, and
terrified to scale a cliff in reverse, by traversing down the vertical drop.
Little did
those around me know that I was facing a wall in my own life that I needed to
scale. I needed courage, just as we were going to teach the kids at Camp. Down
I went with my heart pounding.
The wall I
faced that day was the unwelcome task of moving 1500 miles away from our home
and church in Austin to an unknown future in La Mirada, CA. I needed God to “arm
me with strength” and “make my way perfect”. I knew He was the only one who
could “make my feet like the feet of a deer” and “enable me to stand on the
heights” (II Sam. 22:33-34).
I have
called on this verse again in the several decades that have passed since I
rappelled that limestone cliff. I have found obstacles that seemed too big to
conquer, yet as I prayed these words and took courage from them, with God’s help
I learned that I can scale a wall. The wall may be sorrows in my
children’s lives, and the truth is that I can’t change their choices nor can I
not suffer when they suffer. But I can endure. I can even have victory as I climb
the wall of fear and doubt with God’s help.
The wall that
you are called to climb may be suffering, it may be financial stress, it may be
an incurable illness or the loss of a spouse or even the loss of a child. It
may be an unsatisfying job or an unresponsive spouse. To climb the wall, we
start with this truth: “It is God who arms me with strength and make my way
perfect” (II Sam. 22:33).
Then we will
be in the mode of David’s mighty men like Josheb-Basshebeth who killed 800 men
with his spear in one encounter! Or the three men who risked their lives to bring
David water from his favorite well which was behind enemy lines. Or Benaiah who
braved a lion in a snowy, slippery pit to save the water supply of the city (II Sam. 23:8, 16, 20). These men risked their lives by their brave actions to
honor David their King.
“Lord, may
we be willing to risk our lives, our comfort, our futures to honor You, our
King. May we be like the early church in devoting ourselves to Your Word, to
fellowship and prayer, and to selling out possessions to give to those in need
(see Acts 2:42-45). Give us courage to scale the wall that is before us today, I
pray in the Name of Your Son, Jesus. Amen.”
- Nell
Sunukjian
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