Bible Text: Luke 9:37-43 | Preacher: G.F.

This passage teaches us about the battle of unbelief, the very struggle that almost all of us have from time to time. Do you believe that God is sovereign over your troubles? Or, when you are in the midst of your troubles do you wonder if your troubles are bigger than God, or do you act like they are?

The amazing story of Charles Blondin, a famous French tightrope walker, is a wonderful illustration of this battle of unbelief and what true faith looks like.

Blondin’s greatest fame came on September 14, 1860, when he became the first person to cross a tightrope stretched 11,000 feet (over a quarter of a mile) across the mighty Niagara Falls. People from both Canada and America came from miles away to see this great feat. He walked across, 160 feet above the falls, several times… each time with a different daring feat – once in a sack, on stilts, on a bicycle, in the dark, and blindfolded. One time he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet while balancing on the rope, in the middle of the canyon!

A large crowd gathered and the buzz of excitement ran along both sides of the river bank. The crowd “Oohed and Aahed!” as Blondin carefully walked across – one dangerous step after another – pushing a wheelbarrow holding a sack of potatoes. Upon reaching the other side, the crowd’s applause was louder than the roar of the falls!

Blondin suddenly stopped and addressed his audience: “Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?” The crowd enthusiastically yelled, “Yes! You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. We believe!” “Okay,” said Blondin, “Who wants to get into the wheelbarrow.”

As far as the Blondin story goes, no one did at the time!

This unique story illustrates a real life picture of what faith actually is. The crowd watched these daring feats. They said they believed. But… their actions proved they truly did not believe. Similarly, this is the same kind of struggle that we face in regard to faith and unbelief when we are looking our troubles in the eye and we don’t believe that God is sovereign over our troubles and unable to work all things together for good according to His own purposes. If you believe that God is sovereign over your troubles and you believe that God is good, you know that God is working in every circumstance of your life for His good purposes if you trust in Him.