The Ragged Edge of Reality

Preacher:
Date: May 21, 2015

Bible Text: Nahum 1:7 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him. Nahum 1:7

Joe Stowell calls it “the ragged edge of reality.” That’s the place you want to avoid if at all possible, the realization that your life is out of control, and what bothers you more than anything else is that you don’t know what to do about it.   When it seemed that the ragged edge of reality was closing in on the psalmist, he wrote, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble,” adding, “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging” (Psalm 46:1-3).

What he described is big trouble. Mountains quaking and cascading into the sea, probably as the result of earthquakes, is pretty graphic. But the impact is no less when you hear a doctor say, “We’ve done everything we know to do to save your little boy,” or hearing the one you expected to grow old with say, “I don’t love you, never have, and I’m tired of pretending. I want out of this marriage.”

The ragged edge of reality can be devastating, painfully devastating.

I probably don’t have to describe it. You know what it is. You’ve been there, but what you may need is encouragement in letting the Lord be your strength and help in difficult times.

“I’m not going to turn to God now,” a man once told me. “I wasn’t religious before this problem, and I don’t want Him to have to bail me out now.” Possibly he hadn’t gotten to the cutting edge of reality just yet. When there is an avalanche, you don’t waste time putting wax on your skis, or stop to pick the daisies when flood waters are rising. You sense danger and you move. You act. Nobody straightens pictures in a burning building.

Survivors of shipwrecks never get concerned with fashion and clothes when they are floundering in deep waters. They will grasp anything which will keep them afloat, right?   OK, where do we go from here? What I am about to say sounds hard, yet it’s true. Sometimes God allows us to face the ragged edge of reality so we stop playing defense games with Him, and get desperate enough to really let Him help us. As long as we have anything to hold on to, we refuse to be rescued. It’s when you realize that you’re finished unless you get help, that you realize you’ve left God out of your life, and let Him do what only He can do.

Self-reliance may be an admirable trait, but when it comes to the ragged edge of reality, there are things which only God can and will do. The psalmist said, “For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock” (Psalm 27:5).   When his world was coming apart because of war and strife, Nahum wrote, “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him” (Nahum 1:7). For 60 seconds, think about those words. First he says, “The Lord is good.” Can you accept that? Why didn’t God stop this? Possibly He allowed it—much as a lifeguard will let someone struggling in the surf exhaust himself so he can rescue him. Because God is a good God and a help in the time of trouble, you can reach out for His help.   When the ragged edge of reality has you in its grasp, run to the rock and lay hold of God’s goodness. When you search for Him and seek Him with all your heart, you’ll find Him, and when you do, the ragged edge of reality will have become your friend.    

Resource reading: Nahum 1