Hanging By A Thread

I

n my study, just next to my window, hangs a replica of a hot air balloon I purchased a several years ago.  When my mom and dad came out to Fort Worth to help me move into my house, mom got up on the stepladder and hung the balloon.  Her touch and opinion of where to place that balloon made all the difference in the world and ensured success!

When I opened the box and examined all the components, I found a long piece of thick transparent string.  It resembled fishing line and provided the means of hanging the balloon from the ceiling.  I went to one of the local home supply superstores in the area and purchased a hook, returned home.  When mom finished, the balloon hung from the hook and, unless you observed very closely, it seemed as if the balloon was suspended in thin air.

Even now, whenever I enter my room, before I go to sleep, or in the morning when I wake up, I see that balloon.  Although it appears to float in mid air, I know it is hanging by a mere thread.  That thread, however, is strong enough to support the balloon’s weight, supporting and upholding it on constant and consistent basis.

The story of Job is familiar to most people, even if they are unfamiliar with the rest of the Scriptures.  Whenever we are having a bad day, whenever Murphy’s Law is in effect, or when everything seems to be stacked against us, we usually compare our plight with that of Job.  I am convinced, however, that we have no idea what Job endured and I am certainly not taking a number and waiting in line to find out!

It should come as no surprise to us that Job’s very life hung by a mere thread.  Most people would agree with that statement noting that Job’s faith in God was the very thread that kept him and sustained him during his trial.  While I agree that Job had incredible faith, I want to explore the possibility that Job’s faith was not the thread that held him.

In Job 1:12 and 2:6 we read the following statements, “The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life."

God, Himself, makes both of these statement in response to Satan’s accusation that God’s protection and blessing in Job’s life are the sole reasons Job follows the Lord.  His argument is that were those blessings and the protection lifted, Job would curse God to His face and no long worship Him.  Two words must jump out at us from God’s response.  The words occur in both verses.  Can you find them?  Can you find the thread that held and supported Job?  Yes!  The words are “Very well.”

In other words, God said to Satan, “Go ahead, do your worst, my servant will not fail me.” So it was not Job’s faith in God that sustained him; it was God’s faith in Job.  The words very well connect Job to His God and relate the faith God placed in Job.

Wherever you are today in your walk with the Lord, I pray you will take encouragement from this passage of scripture.  Sometimes life gets crazy; it seems everything is against us and we are hanging by a mere thread.  But if that thread is God, we have all we need to cling to.  That thread is all the strength we need and will support and sustain us both constantly and consistently.  It will never break, it will never come untied, and it will never let us go.  Hanging by a thread is sometimes the only place we experience the sustaining power of our God.  Are you hanging confidently by a thread today?