When Earthly Supports Fail

Unto Thee life I up mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens. -- Psalms 123:1

Through some experience that had shaken from beneath him the earthly supports on which he rested, David had come to realize that there was nothing stable on earth or in human affairs. It was out of this realization that he cried, "Unto Thee life I up mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens."

Baron Humboldt, the great traveler, tells of an experience he had when journeying through South America. One day there was a sudden stillness in the air which seemed like a hush over all nature. Following this period of stillness there was a fearful convulsion of the earth which greatly startled him and his companions. And Humboldt tells us that he experienced an earthquake in his soul that was as great as that in the world without. All his old views of the safety of the earth were destroyed in a moment. Should he fly to the hills for help? The mountains were reeling like drunken men.

The houses were no refuge, for they were crumbling and falling. The forest offered no shelter, for the trees were uprooted and overthrown. His thoughts turned to the see, but there was no prospect of safety there, for the ships which just before were floating securely on its surface were now left rocking in the sands. Finding himself thus at his wit's end, he tells us that he "looked up, and observed that the heavens alone were calm and unshaken."

In other ways, most of us have had experiences similar to that. There have been times when, as in a great convulsion of nature, all the foundations upon which we have rested were shaken; when it seemed that there was no succor or help to be found anywhere on earth; when there was nothing we could do but look away from earth to heaven.

Such times come to us all. And when these times come-these times of distress and perplexity, when so far as earthly support and human help are concerned we know not whither to turn-what a relief and satisfaction it is, as many of us have found from experience, just to look up to the heavens and put our trust in Him who abideth forever. It gives us a sense of security and permanence, to know that we can always look to him who dwelleth in the calm and unshaken heavens - WHEN EARTHLY SUPPORTS FAIL.