End of the Rope
You ever felt like that? that you have reached the end of your rope?
I have, and today is one of those days!
As I ponder (East Texas translation of “thinking about”) my current situation and struggles, I was reminded of a poster that my high school math teacher kept on the front of his desk.
The poster on Coach Chadwicks desk was of the cute little kitten, its claws dug deep into a knot that was tied in a rope. The kittens feet were dangling and he had this look of desperation on his face. The idiomatic expression underneath was “When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on!” Now as usual, the thought of this kitten hanging sent my mind off on a brief side bar. I began to wonder, what happens if you get to the end and there is not enough slack to tie a knot? What happens if you reach the end before you realize it and you just slide off? What happens if the rope is super stiff and you cant shape the knot? Etc. etc. You get the idea.
Funny how such a simple phrase “End of the Rope” can be so true sometimes. The idiom is referring to being at the limit of our patience or endurance. You know we have all felt like we were there or currently find ourselves at that spot. We generally find ourselves there when we have exhausted all other means, when our solutions are not working and the situation doesn’t look resolvable. Somehow we have come to believe in that false philosophy that says, “God helps those that help themselves.”
As I desperately search for help and resolution to my souls delima, the reality is I am unable to help myself, and often I cant find anyone who can comfort and aid my soul. The end of the rope usually is literally the end of me or the end of self. I cannot imagine, nor can I find anywhere in scripture that God says “Buck, If you can’t do it on your own, I’m not going to help.” Imagine if that were really true, that God’s help only comes once we help ourselves! He wouldn’t be much of a God would He. Nor would we really need Him if we could always just help ourselves.
It is when we are broken and crushed that we come to see that we need God. It is then that God is ready to enable us to face the situations in our lives. David said, “Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses” (Psalm 107:28). God said, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3). David declared, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psalms 34:18).
If you have come to the end of your rope, it can actually be a good place to be. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). If you are DESTITUTE (everything is falling in on you), and you have come to the end of your rope and there is nothing left to hold on to, then it can be a good place.
I am holding to that today. I am waiting on God, because I am out of solutions, I am out of answers, I am poor in spirit and I desperately need the kingdom of heaven today and His salvation, His healing my troubles and heart.
What about you?
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.” Jer 17:5 (NIV)
He who trusts in himself is a fool…Prov 28:26 (NIV)
