Without a Net?

The crowd collectively holds its breath while three lithe, glittery spandex-clad athletes swing upside-down several stories up in the air. After a few swings, one of the muscular young men lets go of the petite gymnast and she flies through the air, breaking through the spotlights, into the grip of the other young man. Those who had been watching with bated breath let it out with a sigh of relief, because this young woman risked her life for this exciting trick, with no net below to catch her if the second man missed this very important catch.

Why do people like watching this kind of thing? It just boggles my mind. The uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach, my wild imagination creating the violent image of the woman’s gruesome death, the sickening fear for those men who are literally holding her life in their hands, I tell you, I just can’t take it. It’s too much for me. But as I look back at my life and our testimony of near misses and some hits, I realize that we, in a way, are living our lives without a net.

It is not a comfortable thing, doing anything without some visible source of safety and security in one’s life. I know for a fact that thrill-seekers, those that practice extreme sports, and trapeze artists all have to practice quite a bit with security in place before they can get over the fear of being without it. You don’t just allow your body to be thrown to someone else several stories up in the air until you’ve fallen into the net a few times and these guys finally get it right over and over again.

In the Christian life, we kind of want the same thing from God. We want Him to prove Himself to us in the small things before we can trust Him with the harder stuff. Unfortunately, when you say to God, “Wherever you lead, I’ll go” and “I surrender all,” He does take that opportunity to prove Himself. Over and over again. It can be a fearful thing to be in the hands of God, if you’re not fully surrendered to Him. It can be like doing dangerous tricks several stories over a hard cement floor.

So, why do it? Why live life totally surrendered to a God that’s going to allow terrible things to happen in our lives? Because the joy and peace of being safely in the palm of His hand is literally out of this world. He is not a 25-year-old gymnast with sweaty hands, He is Creator God, who set the world in motion and sustains it by His great power. Also, the future of those who are living in this dark world without Him are doomed to a future of not just no net, but a gruesome demise worse than any of us can imagine. And, the rewards of following the Lord “without a net,” (at least a visible one) are eternal. And, you know what? Even though we can’t always see the net, it is there and His great power is much more able to save us than some woven together ropes or athletic trapeze artists.

We tend to have multiple nets in place for the various important things and people we have in our lives. Exercise and eat right and you’ll be healthy. Then, you get the report from the oncologist. Raise up your children in the way they should go. Then, one or more of them rebels and goes his/her own way. Keep in touch with your family, pray constantly for them and encourage them and everything will be fine in their lives. Then, a major tragedy hits and everything changes. Love your spouse and serve him/her sacrificially. Then, he/she is tempted and you family is broken. Work conscientiously at your job for years, build up savings and buy a house and cars to support a comfortable lifestyle. Then the company you work for falters financially and you are laid off. Follow God in obedience where He calls you and testify about Him. Then, support is lost, violent persecution hits, civil unrest springs up seemingly out of nowhere, an epidemic grips your region and you must flee with your family- any number of unforeseen things- and you lose your ministry, either for a time or for good.

It’s one thing to function without a net because you choose to do so and another thing to lose a net because God allows it to happen. We find it easier to trust Him when it’s our choice to live without a net, don’t we? We say, “I can do this!” And, we step out in faith and confidently move forward with the assurance that God is going before us, filling us with His power, and working through us. But, sometimes, we’re also trusting in multiple nets to bear us up when we fall. I’m not saying that God is out to get us, but I am saying that He allows us to experience Him in new ways when we lose other things we’re trusting in for our safety and security.

In the past several months, God has systematically taken net after net out from under us and I’ve cried out, “Why, God? Haven’t I already given up so many nets to serve you sacrificially? Is this not enough? Can you not pick on someone else for a change?!” You probably cringe to see that last one, but you know what? I’ve learned from some conversations He put in His Word between His servants and Himself that He can take it. Because after I cry out these cringe-worthy questions, He soothes me with His sweet love. He covers me with His overwhelming Presence. And, I just lay my head in His lap and cry and He strokes my head and says, “There, there…. I am with you. I love you. I will see you through this. Even in this, I will be glorified. Your life will be for my glory…” and other words like this, that He has spoken to me through Scripture and His Spirit. It’s in these moments that I begin to praise my Savior. My cries of pain turn into whispers of praise. My broken heart is healed with the salve of worship of my Lord. He hasn’t made the circumstances better, but my heart, which has always been His, is once more turned to Him.

My Great Lord God is my net as I strive to follow Him. No wait, He is not just the net. He is the two gymnasts, both tossing and catching me. He is the momentum keeping me going in the right direction. He is the muscle-memory that moves me. He is the Ring Leader that commands me to do this thing and makes sure my needs are provided for. I love Him with all that I am. He is the only One worthy of my trust, because only He is able to truly keep me safe in His loving arms.

God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea…

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

-Ps. 46:1-2; 10-11 NIV

 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
    apart from you I have no good thing.”

Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
    you make my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    surely I have a delightful inheritance.
I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
    even at night my heart instructs me.
I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
    With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
    my body also will rest secure…

                                -Ps. 16:2; 5-9 NIV