I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I have committed
unto him against that day.
2 TIMOTHY 1:12 KJV
In the mid-nineteenth century, tightrope walker Blondin was going to perform his most daring feat yet. He stretched a two-inch steel cable across Niagara Falls. As he did, a large crowd gathered to watch. He asked the onlookers, “How many of you believe that I can carry the weight of a man on my shoulders across this gorge?”
The growing crowd shouted and cheered, believing that he could perform this difficult feat. Blondin picked up a sack of sand that weighed about 180 pounds and carried it across the Falls. They both arrived on the other side safely.
Then Blondin asked, “How many of you believe that I can actually carry a person across the gorge?” Again, the crowd cheered him on.
“Which one of you will climb on my shoulders and let me carry you across the Falls?” Silence fell across the crowd. Everyone wanted to see Blondin carry a person across the gorge, but nobody wanted to put his life into Blondin’s hands.
Finally, a volunteer came forward willing to participate in this death-defying stunt. Who was this person? It was Blondin’s manager, who had known the tightrope walker personally for many years.
As they prepared to cross the Falls, Blondin instructed his manager, “You must not trust your own feelings, but mine. You will feel like turning when we don’t need to turn. And if you trust your feelings, we will both fall. You must become part of me.” The two made it across to the other side safely.30
Jesus gives us the same instruction when we are asked to trust Him in difficult circumstances: “Don’t trust your own feelings, trust Me to carry you through.”