Recently, I was watching as one of the members of our congregation was playing with his little boy. They were in the grass behind our synagogue where there are several tree stumps that people usually use to sit on while fellowshipping and enjoying our beautiful Florida weather. There is something powerful about the level of faith and trust that this young boy had in his father.
Time after time he would climb onto the top of the stump, which was every bit as tall as he was, and then jump as high as his little legs would power him into the arms of his father. His father, once he caught him, would then toss him into the air, catching him again and then carefully setting him back safely on the ground.
The more I thought about this demonstration of trust, the more I realized that what was really taking place was a battle between two forces: gravity and fatherhood. The boy knew that as soon as he jumped, he was going to begin to fall down. I know he was too young to understand that there is a law of gravity. But, he was not too young to understand that things fall down. He also knew that as long as his father was there, once he jumped, his father would catch him on his way down and then sail him even higher into the air. This little boy had learned in his short life that as long as his father was there, if he jumped, he could trust that his father would not only stop him from falling, but he would empower him to fly higher than his own power would allow. In other words, his father wouldn’t simply slow down the effect of the gravity; he would counter the effect with a stronger force than gravity.
I watched for several minutes and as I did I began to think about my relationship with my Heavenly Father. Did I have the same faith and level of trust in my Heavenly Father as this small child had in his earthly father? I know that there are laws in effect that control both time and space. I have lived long enough to know that what goes up must come down, and that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Yet, I also know if I have faith and trust my Heavenly Father, I can and will counter both time and space just as that little boy’s father countered gravity.
This countering time and space is what is known as the miraculous. However, we can only see the miraculous if we are willing to jump. We have to jump knowing that all natural laws tell us we are going to fall and that the higher we are the further we will fall and that the ground is hard. Yet, to see the supernatural, we must jump. We must jump knowing with full faith and trust that once we leap with all the power we can muster together and jump as high as we can, that that is where our power ceases and G-D’s power takes over. It is then and only then that we will feel His hands grasp us and stop us from falling. But, that isn’t the end because once He counters the physical forces pulling us to the earth, He will then send us higher than we could imagine, allowing us to experience things far beyond our reach.
It is this thrust of power that allowed David to slay Goliath, Samson to defeat the Philistines, Moses to part the sea, Peter to walk on water, and Paul to raise the dead. Each of these and every other event in Scripture like them took place when one of G-D’s people refused to settle for the limitations of time and space and trusted that once they leapt, their Heavenly Father would catch them. That day, that little boy helped me to understand Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do far beyond all that we ask or imagine, by means of His power that works in us.