A Rickety Scaffold

In a recent email, someone kindly referred to me as a “tower of strength”.  I felt immediately encouraged, but before I could get to feeling too proud of myself, the Lord brought a vivid image to mind.

I suddenly pictured a common scene from a trip to China that Sherril and I made many years ago.  I was impressed with the number of high-rise buildings going up everywhere.   But I was also appalled at some of the construction methods, in particular, the rickety looking scaffolds made of bamboo and rope rising tens of stories above the ground level. 

   

How could this primitive scaffolding stand so high and support the crews working on them?  Two important things, I noticed, about these temporary structures.  They generally did not rise above the building, and they were secured to the permanent structure as it progressed upward.

I remembered a verse (Proverbs 18:10) that says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runs into it and is safe.”  In the Hebrew culture a person’s name was considered to be synonymous with who he was.  I got the picture.  The real tower of strength is the Lord, whom we do not see, but if we, rickety as we may be, are securely anchored to Him and do not try to elevate ourselves above Him, His great strength becomes ours.  And what is it that anchors us?  Our faith, and even that is His gift (Ephesians 2:8).  No room for pride here!