Lessons From a Tightrope And a Wheelbarrow

By Scott Armstrong

“Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised (Romans 4:20-21).”

(Read Romans 4:13-25)

I have heard the story of a famous tightrope walker who decided to cross Niagara Falls on a rope he had tied from one bank to another. He publicized the huge event and thousands came to watch this impressive feat. Balancing himself high above the raging waters, he inched his way across while the hushed crowd watched in awe.

After he reached the other side, the crowd roared in approval. They had never seen anything like this amazing display of courage and skill. However, the acrobat was not finished.  He put on a blindfold and made his way slowly across again.  Successful, and hearing the crowd’s thunderous applause, the man made his way across another time, except this third time he was wearing the blindfold and pushing a wheelbarrow bit by bit over the thin rope.  The ovation this time was the loudest he had ever heard.

Now this tightrope walker had never fallen during a public exhibition, and so he shouted down to the throng of onlookers, “Do you believe I can cross this tightrope blindfolded with this wheelbarrow once more?”

“Yes!!  We believe you can do it!!” the audience shouted back.

“If you really believe,” the man on the high wire replied, “then which one of you will get in the wheelbarrow?”

Romans 4:13-25 tells us that Abraham lived a life of faith.  He didn’t just talk the talk; he walked the walk.  He believed against all odds that he would have a kid at the ripe old age of 100, and it happened. He believed in the God who could raise the dead to life, so he nearly sacrificed his own son before God rescued him and commended Abraham for his faith. This is earth-shaking, mind-boggling stuff.  But Abraham remained “fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (v.21).

When was the last time you truly stepped out on faith? We serve a God who “gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (v.17).  Will you trust him today in spite of the circumstances around you? Is it time to stop only saying you believe in him and time to get in the wheelbarrow and live it?