While two young naturalists, named Tom and Robert, were vacationing at a lakeside inn, they spotted a raven's nest on a ledge far down the face of a sheer rock precipice.
Determined to secure some of the raven's eggs for their collections, the young men returned to the spot the next day with a long rope and a helper from the inn.
As soon as the rope was securely knotted around Tom's shoulders and passed around a tree trunk and then to Robert, he backed towards the precipice until he reached the brink.
Then with his feet against the wall of rock and with his body at an angle to it, he proceeded to walk backwards down the face of the cliff, his whole weight supported by the rope held by Robert.
He backed down until he reached the nest; and as the raven flew croaking away he helped himself to two of its coveted eggs. These he placed in his cap which he held tightly between his teeth.
He then gave the signal and the upwards climb began.
But suddenly the pull from above stopped.
Gazing up at the 50 feet of bare rock, to his horror Tom saw that his lifeline was snagged in a forked piece of rock jutting from the face of the cliff.
There he hung absolutely alone and helpless— beneath him only the great depth of several hundred feet where the waves lashed the rocks below. All around him prevailed the dreadful stillness of that horrible, solitary place. His friend, Robert, was lost to sight and sound far back above.
Humanly speaking, Tom's life depended on Robert; his only connection with him was that single rope.
If anyone would learn the meaning of the word Trust, let him imagine himself in what was then Tom's predicament. He could not see Robert; but he could see his own danger. Would the sharp edges of the rock sever the rope?
By this time Robert knew that something was wrong, and concluding that the rope was caught began carefully working it free, while Tom watched anxiously for any cutting or fraying. With much skill and patience Robert was at last able to free the rope and the upwards pull resumed.
Soon the breathless moments of suspense were over, and, thanks to his faithful friend, in a few minutes more Tom was scrambling up over the edge of the cliff, thrilled to find himself once more on solid ground.
Reader, are you trusting the One who can never fail you? You cannot see the Lord Jesus any more than Tom could see Robert as he hung over the cliff, but you may safely trust Him—the One of whom the Bible says:
"He is able to save to the uttermost
all that come unto God by Him."