Bootstraps & Horns

    

    Ever heard the phrase "Pull yourself up by the bootstraps?".   Or, "Grab hold of the horns of the altar!"?     Who knows where those sayings came from but to me, there is a truth in them.  To me they express a need to reach down inside of yourself at a moment of trial, at a moment of warfare, or tempatation and make a determination, no matter the outcome, you are going to make it.  A lot of folks, I guess, go through life and never have one of those bootstrap moments.  Or, maybe, their moment hasn't come yet.  But, for most people I know, there comes a moment, or moments, when you have to reach down inside and determine in your spirit, that no matter the outcome, you are going to go on in life, go on in the worship of God, go on being the person God says you are.

   This reminds me of the Hebrew children in the furnace.  They went through the fire and come out the other side without the smell of smoke on them, unharmed.  But, you know what saved them and made them heroes was in how they faced that furnace.   They got hold of the bootstraps.  They grabbed the horns of the altar.  They gripped the bone like a bulldog.  They got hold of something down inside and they said, "no matter, if you throw us in, we will not bend nor bow, we will not worship another God".     I think that committment would have delivered them, or, taken them through.  As it was, it took them through and indeed, they came through without harm.

    The real foundation of overcoming faith is something like this.  Often when we are only concerned with relief from the trial, our faith is grounded solely on our human desires.  No matter how good the desire, it is not always a strong basis for standing in faith. A lot of it is motions and emotions can trip us up. A determination to walk with God, to go on in life, to not let the furnace put the smell of smoke on us, is a better basis. We don't really have a promise of "overcoming life'. We have a promise of "life" by which we overcome. Sometimes "life" takes us through, sometimes it takes us over.

    Do I know what I am talking about?  Well, more than once, I have had to reach down inside and say "God, no matter how this comes out, it is still you and me.  I won't be changed by the furnace. I am still yours Lord."  I have known and pastored others whose faith through the trial was so admirable.  One lady lost her  baby grandson to a brutal murder. We prayed and prayed with her and she walked through the toughest of painful agonizing times. Times that would have caused a lot of stronger looking people to crumble and become bitter by the smoke of the furnace. She came through with a song, with a devotion for God that has not faded over the years. And, she has joy. Wonderful joy.

    Facing a trial? Grab hold of your faith in God. You can and will make it. Focus on Him through every day and you will come through.