Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Eyes of faith

When I am afraid, I will trust in you (Psalm 56:3).

Mining has always been a dangerous profession. One example comes to us from the winter of 1815. A man named Frost was trapped by a cave-in. Rescuers searching for any sign of life were relieved to hear a voice coming up from deep within the earth; Frost was still alive! His head and body were unhurt, but his legs were trapped under a mound of collapsed debris.

Great care was needed to free the miner, and the most experienced men available were put in charge of the rescue. The ceiling above Frost’s head was unstable, yet almost miraculously it had not given way, though it looked ready to collapse at the slightest disturbance. This presented the miners with a dilemma: dig as fast as possible, hoping that their efforts did not trigger a fatal rockfall? Or go slowly and carefully, hoping that Frost would not weaken and die before they got him loose?

When emotions are running high, most people demand quick and decisive action—yet in this case, hurrying the operation would have almost certainly ended in tragedy. So the rescuers proceeded with great caution and worked steadily around the clock. Digging started on Monday, the day on which the accident took place, and continued until Thursday evening when they finally pulled Mr. Frost from his tomb and restored him to his family. The miner only suffered a few bruises and a broken leg, even though he had been buried alive a total of seventy-five hours.

How had Frost survived his ordeal? A slow trickle of water dripped from the rocks near his head, water that he was able to catch with a cupped hand and bring to his mouth. That small amount of moisture, dripping in just the right place, almost certainly kept his body from death. But of equal importance was the fact that Frost was a Christian; he trusted in Christ, and that faith gave him the strength to hang on. Through those long hours of pain and darkness, he never gave in to panic; although he was alone in what could have been an early grave, he spent much of his time reciting psalms and singing hymns that he knew by heart. Without faith in Christ to give him hope, Frost might have very well have lost his mind during the days that he was buried deep within the earth. But he saw the hand of God everywhere—keeping his skull from being crushed, allowing rescuers to hear his voice, and giving him water to drink in his time of need. In the darkness, Frost could see God’s love for him clearly with the eyes of faith.

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