As you might expect, police SWAT teams invest considerable time in training. They maintain high physical fitness standards, master numerous weapon systems, use specialized equipment, and employ highly coordinated tactics that require hundreds of repetitions to master. Because of the extreme demands, team-building exercises are an important supplement to the training regimen.
I arranged for our team to participate in one such exercise at a local technical high school campus. I chose it because it featured an elaborate obstacle course, a rappel wall and ropes courses. The students wanted to demonstrate the rope's reliability and their knot-tying skills by creating a “trust fall” experience for each team member. After tying off to a wooden support, the first team member was instructed to fall backward, allowing the rope to stop him a few inches above the ground. He did, and sure enough, he came to an abrupt halt at just the right height.
The next participant was one of the team’s breachers (the guy responsible for driving a steel ram into a solid-core, deadbolted door). He stood about six feet, six inches tall and weighed around 260 pounds. Like the man before him, the teen tied off the knot and double-checked it with a hard tug before giving the command to fall. Moments later, it was clear the student had not accounted for a man that size. Under the weight, the rope flexed, and, well, we were all grateful our friend was wearing a helmet. Thankfully, what started as a gasp soon erupted into laughter.
The purpose of a “trust fall” is to place oneself in a position of physical vulnerability by relying entirely on others to prevent injury. As my teammate can attest, even when they don’t mean to, people will let you down. God, on the other hand, will not. He has never miscalculated. He has never failed to account for your strengths, weaknesses, desires or fears. Perhaps you’re familiar with God’s promise to protect you from excessive enticement to sin.
This is cause for great praise, but a similar, though less familiar, verse has an unexpected twist. Read it carefully.
Did you catch the contrast with the temptation passage? Here, Paul was not promised he would be kept from affliction “beyond your ability.” Instead, he was “so utterly burdened beyond our strength” that he had come to the end of himself. He and those with him thought it would kill them! Then the reader is given the rationale. It “was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God.”
There is a time to ask God to guard you against difficulties such as temptation. (Remember the Lord’s Prayer, “…and lead us not into temptation.”) And there is also a time to fully submit to the Lord’s providence amid overwhelming hardship. In each case, you are expected to wholeheartedly trust the Lord. If He provides a way of escape, thank the Lord, recognizing that His providence is worthy of your trust. If, instead, circumstances beyond your control overpower you, thank the Lord, understanding that He is compelling you to trust Him.
David, reflecting on the time he had been seized by the Philistines and was sure he would die, wrote, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” That’s the kind of trust all Christians must fall into.