Welcome And The Daily Blade

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Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the Sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christians' armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Trapped Under The Boulder

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So it's early in the morning on April 26, 2003, and Aaron Rawson is alone in a slot canyon in southeastern Utah. So he's a climber in a just a general adrenaline junkie, and he's climbing down through a narrow crack in the earth that is really barely wide enough for him to fit inside of it. And suddenly he's climbing down over a boulder when the boulder shifts under his weight. He falls further down into the slot canyon, and an 800-pound sandstone boulder drops down and eventually pins his right arm against the wall of the canyon. So obviously, this is a life-threatening and perilous situation that is made worse by the fact that he is completely alone. No one came on this little excursion with him. He didn't tell anyone where he was going. No one is expecting him back at a particular time. And the water bottle he has only has enough water to sustain him for about two days. And the temperature in Utah is rising. After he gets his bearings and realizes the dire nature of his circumstances, he ends up spending the first day trying to do whatever he can to move the rock, but it just doesn't budge. On day two, he decides to start chipping away at this enormous boulder, but all he had was a dull blade on his small multi-tool. So he quickly comes to the realization after making no progress that he's just gonna die. He's gonna die in that canyon. He carves his name and birth date into the canyon wall, and he uses a small camcorder that he has in his backpack to film a goodbye message to his family that they can watch if they ever find it, right?

A Desperate Choice To Live

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Now let's fast forward to day five. Aaron's had no water for two full days at this point. He's reduced now to drinking his own urine to try and survive. His arm that is trapped by the boulder is already dead. It's swollen, it's dark, and it's already decomposing. And even in his delirious state, he has a revelation. He could stay in the canyon and die, or he can attempt to cut off his own arm in order to free himself from the boulder. So he takes his multi-tool, which again is incredibly dull now because of his attempt previously to shave down the rock, and he begins to cut his own flesh. So in the process, he purposefully breaks the radius and ulna in his right arm against the boulder in order to separate them and to give his dull blade a better chance of cutting through his muscle and skin. And it took him about an hour, but he eventually does finish cutting through his own arm. So he quickly rigs a tourniquet with the supplies that he had on him, and then he repels about 65 feet up out of the canyon with just one working arm. And then he had to hike seven miles through the desert, again with no drinking water, but he managed to get out of the canyon and out of the desert alive.

When Your World Suddenly Breaks

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So what Rawson experienced here is a suffering that came on instantly and absolutely, right? You know, one minute he's having the time of his life doing something that he had done so many times before, really enjoying every second of it. And then the very next moment, the entire world and the boulder he was on falls out from underneath him. And some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. For some of you, your entire life changed with that one phone call that you got with a bad diagnosis from the doctor. For some of you, it was when you discovered accidentally that your business partner was stealing from you. Some of you found text messages that were between your wife and some man that she's apparently having an affair with. You see how this happens? One minute you're good, and the next you're not. Which might leave you with the question where is God exactly in this entire situation?

Psalm 46 And A Present Help

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So I actually think that Psalm 46 is very helpful in moments like these, and I'll read the first two verses of it now. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. So, what kind of help is God? A very present help. The original Hebrew here describes a help that is found greatly and abundantly available. So it's not off in the distance somewhere, it's not off yonder, it's it's not delayed by something, it is present and it's present now. And here's what the Psalm does not promise it doesn't promise that God is always going to remove the boulder. What it does promise, though, is that God is in the canyon with us. So this is very similar. Some of y'all heard me talk about Psalm 23. The thing about the valley of the shadow of death is not that God always delivers us from the valley, but it's that whether we are in the valley, coming out of the valley, or about to go into the valley, God is there with us.

Clarity In The Canyon

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So you see, Rawson actually found something in the canyon on day five that he didn't have before that moment. He found clarity. He didn't find immediate rescue, he didn't find comfort, clarity. So he no longer had the distractions of everyday life. It was just him, the canyon, the boulder, a dead arm, and a dull knife. So the situation within the boulder really stripped everything else away and left him with a single question Am I going to fight or am I going to die? And God sometimes will actually pin us in the canyon, guys. And he's not doing so to destroy us, he's doing so to strip away all the distractions of this world so that we can rely on him and focus on him. He removes all the other voices and distractions until the only thing that we can hear is him telling us that he will not leave us nor forsake us.

Waiting On God Or Instead Of God

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So here's the question I want you to ponder today. Are you sitting around waiting to be rescued from something that God intends for you to walk through? There's a big difference between waiting on God and waiting instead of God. Sometimes the answer is to wait, but we still have to be attached to the Father while waiting. You have to be okay and realistic with the idea that the boulder in your life may not move, but God is in the canyon and God is immovable. He's not asking you to wait for rescue. He's asking for you to rely on him. And sometimes the answer is going to be pick up the blade and get to work.

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Stay sharp.