Tightrope Tips for the New Year

January 5, 2020

Tightrope Tips

Isaiah 43:1-7                             NOTES NOT EDITED

SIS—Sometimes (oftentimes) life is like a tightrope, but trusting in God will get you to the other side.

VIDEO:  NIK WALLENDA’S NIAGRA WALK

READING:  PSALM 43:1-7

1.  There Will Be Tightropes! (v2)

² I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you.

In the HCSB the conjunction (or adverb), “when” appears three times. It is the translation of a little Hebrew word, “ki,” which is a conjunction that means, “during the time that.”  “Ki” only appears twice in the Hebrew of this text but is implied the third time.  In fact, the sentence begins with the word, “ki, or when.”  Most translations keep the word order of the Hebrew. 

The point being is that tightropes, or difficult circumstances, are a given in life.  It is not a matter of “if,” but a matter of “when.”  One of the statements Nik Wallenda made in an interview was, “Walking tightropes is in my blood.”  He is the “seventh” generation of the Flying Wallendas.  He had planned this walk across Niagra since visiting the falls as a little boy.  For him, it was not a matter of “if,” but “when.”  It took many years and his entire fortune to get the chance to cross those falls on a wire.

Most of us do not go looking for the difficulties that come into our lives.  We’d rather avoid them.  But, of course, we can’t.  Difficulties will come in life.  The best time to prepare for the “tightropes” we face in life is before we face them.  If you have been listening, even with just one ear, for the last four years, I often warn people of the necessity to be prepared for the hard times that will surely come.  The Bible says (Prov 22:3),

³ A sensible person sees danger and takes cover,

but the inexperienced keep going and are punished.

This is such an important principle that it is recorded almost word for word twice in the Book of Proverbs (see, Prov. 27:12).

Here’s one woman’s story about facing difficulty.  One rainy evening, my husband, John, and I emerged from a restaurant only to find that he had locked the keys in the car. He insisted he could open the door with a wire coat hanger, so we went back to therestaurant to get one. There were none to be found. John then ran to a department store a quarter-mile away and returned with a hanger. After a few attempts, he got the door open and we climbed in. As we sat there, soaked and cold, John stuck the hanger under his seat. With a smug grin, he said, "Now if this ever happens again, I'll have one."

Well, John was “half-right.”  He realized there would likely be a next time.  One thing we can count on in life:  Trouble!

Tightrope Tip #1:  There Will Be Tightropes

2.  When the Waters Are Raging It Is a Good Time to Pray

One of the “tools of the trade” for a tightrope walker is a long, flexible pool to help the walker keep his balance.  Most people—if they think about it at all—think the pole has something to do with changing the center of gravity.  In fact, the pole deals with another property of physics called, “moment of inertia.”  Stated simply the pole helps the walker keep forward moment in a straight line, or we would say, “stay balanced.”  This happens by placing a significant mass far away from the body.  Moment of Inertia is the rotational equivalent of Newton’s Law of Inertia—but, you could probably get by without knowing that.  I’m sure I’ve already told you more than you want to know.  It’s a “math” thing.

My point is that “prayer” is like the balancing pole.  The Laws of Physic dictate that an object will continue in a straight line unless and until acted upon by external forces.  Applying this principle spiritually we would say that our lives continue in a relative straight line until the winds of circumstances blow us off course.  Prayer, keeps us on course.  Prayer adds the additional weight of God’s Providence to our lives.  This is why the Bible is saturated with the prayers of men and women who found themselves on a “tightrope.”

A classic example is Psalm 69:1:   Save me, God,

for the water has risen to my neck.

If you were listening closely to the video clip you would have heard Nik Wallenda praying as he crossed the wire.  When he departed the American side of the Falls, the mist was so thick he could not see the Canadian side.  The ear-splitting noise and swaying wire made it  difficult for Wallenda to stay focused.  Also, he said that when he looked down there was the massive flow of the water moving everywhere, and when he looked up, there was the thick mist.  It was nearly impossible to concentrate.  But for the entirety of his half an hour ordeal he praised God and prayed.  He said, “I felt a sense of peace.”  This is exactly what prayer does.  Isaiah said,

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you (Is 26:3).

This is how it is in life when we find ourselves on a tightrope.  Circumstances make it difficult to concentrate on moving ahead. Prayer is our “balancing pole.”  Prayer allows us to keep moving ahead even though the waters are raging all around us.

Tightrope Tip #2:  When The Waters Are Raging, It Is a Good Time to pray.

3.  Accept the Safety Line God Offers (v1, 2, 3)

Like many prophecies, this one is written in the “first person,” that is from God’s own lips.  Look at verse 1:

Now this is what the Lord says—

In seven (7) verses God refers to Himself eleven (11) times.  This Psalm is all about “chaos, trouble, and difficulty.”  Look again at verse 2:  ² I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you.

Waters, rivers, and scorching fire all point to chaotic, difficult circumstances of the highest order.  The great danger in dangerous circumstances is that we “lose sight of our footing.”  Spiritually speaking, trouble causes us to “take our eye off of Jesus.”  When we do that, we step right into disaster. 

Life will never work for you if you do not realize that you are a part of God’s Master Plan.  History is the unfolding of His Plan.  God will not fail.  We will fail many times, but God will not fail.  God is running the show.  That’s why there are eleven (11) personal references to Himself in seven (7) verses. 

Now, here’s the deal—even though history is the unfolding of God’s plan, and God’s plan will not—cannot—fail, we as God’s children fail many times. The fact is that in spite of all our prayer and all our devotion to the Lord, or more often the lack thereof, oftentimes we are going to fall.  We are going to end up in raging waters or scorching flames.  That’s why verse 3 is so important:

³ For I Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior, give Egypt as a ransom for you.

God identifies Himself with the Covenant Name that He gave to Moses when Moses was faced with the task of delivering God’s people from bondage in Egypt.  The name, Yahweh, uniquely identifies God as the Savior of man.  We wouldn’t need a Savior if we never fell off the wire. In fact, we do fall off the wire many times.

God is our “safety harness.”  Israel was at the time of this passage in exile to Babylonia.  Babylonia would be conquered by Persia and the Persian King, Cyrus, would set the Israelites free after 70 years in bondage.  For this, God would give the Persians Egypt and others as a payment for the kindness to His people—a “ransom” according to verse 3.

This remarkable prophecy was but a foreshadowing of God’s ultimate ransom that He paid (to Himself) when Jesus died on the cross.  1Tim2:5-6 tells us:  ⁵ For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, Christ Jesus, Himself human, ⁶ who gave Himself—a ransom for all

That’s God’s business—Saving those who have fallen.  This is a dangerous world but we can walk with confidence if we accept God’s “safety harness,” which means we accept the salvation that God has provided that makes it impossible for us to NOT make it across to the other side.

Nik Wallenda’s great great grandfather, Karl Wallenda, founded the famous daredevil family, “The FlyingWallendas.” His great feats were accomplished with no safety harness and usually no safety net of any kind.  At the age of 73 in 1978, Karl Wallenda attempted a walk between the two towers of the ten-story Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on a wire stretched 121 ft above the pavement.  The cameras continued to roll as Karl Wallenda lost his balance and plunged 121 ft. to his death.

In the case of Nik Wallenda’s walk across the falls, ABC who put up $1.3 million for the walk insisted that Nik Wallenda where a safety harness.  Nik Wallenda resisted, but the big money won out.  ABC knew that there was no guarantee Wallenda would make it to the other side and they wanted the walk to be “successful.”  Nik Wallenda’s feat is no less spectacular because he was wearing a safety harness.  But, in the likely possibility he fell, nothing would be hurt but his ego.

Tightrope Tip #3:  Make Sure You Accept God’s Safety Harness Which is Jesus Christ.

4.  You Created For Success To the Glory of God (v7)

Look at verse 5:  ⁵ Do not fear, for I am with you.

Someone has counted and the command, “fear not,” appears 365 times in the Bible.  That’s one for every day of the year.  Another person counted 366, which even covers leap year.  I confess, I’ve never counted but I know it is a bunch.

Get this if you get nothing else this morning:  “Yahweh wants you to succeed more than you could possibly imagine.”  This is why Paul declared, “ if God be for us—and He is—who can be against us!”

We need not “fear” anything because we don’t walk the wire alone.  God is with us.  The Bible states what should be obvious (Rom 8):

³⁰ And those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified. ³¹ What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

It should be obvious:  With God—Success is Predetermined.

Failure—ultimate failure—simply is not an option.  I’m sure most of you are familiar with the movie starring Tom Hanks titled simply, “Apollo 13.”  This is a true-life drama based upon space mission, Apollo 13 that went horribly wrong.  The crew of Apollo 13 were stuck in space about 170,000 miles from earth with a crippled spaceship from a loss of power.  Oxygen was getting low, the Carbon Dioxide scrubber was broken.  There seemed to be absolutely nothing Mission Control could do but watch painfully as the crew was lost in space.

However, failure is not a class in the coursework to become involved in the space program.  The leader of Ground Control, Gene Kranz, was asked once in an interview, “"Weren't there times when everybody, or at least a few people, just panicked?" His answer was "No, when bad things happened, we just calmly laid out all the options, and failure was not one of them.”  That phrase, “failure is not an option,” has become part of America’s common diction.

That is so true of God’s children.  Failure just isn’t an option for those who trust fully in God’s Providence and Power.  Look at verse 7:

⁷ everyone called by My name and created for My glory. I have formed him; indeed, I have made him.”

The great tragedy of evolution is that it turns the whole creation upside-down.  In evolution “failure IS the option.” Trial and error, chaotic, cosmotic episodes control everything.  It’s all about failure and improvement.  It’s all about chance and chaos.

God did not make Adam to fail.  God did not leave Adam in his failure.  God has always known what He would do with Adam’s sin. As Isaiah reminds us,”we are created for God’s glory.”  We are destined for success in order, that by our success, we bring glory to God.

We are designed for success and built for blessing.  That’s how God rolls. About 15 minutes into his half-hour ordeal Wallenda spoke into his mike, “I’m strained. . . I’m drained. This is so physical, not only mental but physical. . . my hands are going numb.  I feel like I am getting weak.” He still had halfway to go.  He continued through the pain and physical struggle.  Just a few steps from the Canadian side he ran to his waiting family and a roaring crowd.  He did it.  His first words off the wire were, “I am so blessed.”

Believers are “blessed.”  We are built for blessing.  That does not mean we never experience “failures”—we do, and some of them can be devastating.  But the fact remains that we are “created for His glory!” (v7).  God is with us and He wants us to succeed.  He wants us to make it across the tightropes of life.  That’s our destiny.  Every step of the way, God is with us.

Tightrope Tip #4:  You Are Created for Success to the Glory of God

Now, I doubt if any of us in this room will be walking across Niagra Falls on a 2-inch wire anytime soon.  But, probably sooner than we would like we will be on some “tightrope” over some raging waters or we will find ourselves in some “scorching circumstance.”  It is in these times that we need to remember what Isaiah outlines for us:

#1:  There Will Be Tightrope Times
#2:  When the Waters are Raging, It’s a Good Time to Pray
#3:  Accept the Safety Harness of God’s Gift of Salvation
#4.  Remember:  You are Created for Success to the Glory of God.

Sometimes (oftentimes) life is like a tightrope, but trusting in God will get you to the other side.

See it done—then do it!