60 Seconds – the Path of God

At the end of the movie Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, Indiana has to pass three important tests if he is to reach the Holy Grail, and save his father, who is dying.

The first test is “The Breath of God.” As he walks down a corridor, he must bow down at exactly the right time to keep from being decapitated by large, revolving blades. The second test is “The Word of God.” Indiana must place his feet on just the right stones – the ones that spell God’s name in Latin – to keep from plunging to his death. However, the third test, “The Path of God,” is, by far, the most challenging. Jones comes to the edge of a large gorge, which is about a hundred feet across and a thousand feet down. On the other side of the gorge is the doorway to the Holy Grail. The instructions say, “Only in the leap from the lion’s head, will he prove his worth.” Indiana says to himself, “It’s impossible. Nobody can jump this!” Then, he realizes that this test requires a leap of faith. His father shouts to him, “You must believe, boy. You must believe!” With everything about his mind and logic screaming at him not to do it, Indiana walks to the edge of the cliff, lifts his foot, and then steps out into the thin air, not knowing the outcome. Suddenly, Jones does not fall to his death, but is upheld by an invisible force.

Jesus, speaking of insurmountable challenges, declared, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). J. Oswald Sanders commented, “Our Lord did not say ‘to God,’ but ‘with God’ – a very different thing. ‘To God’ underlines the contrast between man’s impotence and the omnipotence of God. To man with God, united to God by faith, all things are possible. Samuel Chadwick maintained that ‘with God, and for the will of God, man is almighty. And with God, all that a man ought to be, he can be; all that he ought to do, he can do.’”

In Mark, chapter nine, a desperate father, with a demon-possessed son, was anxious for his deliverance. Ole Hallesby writes about the father who comes to Jesus to ask Him to help him “if you can.” “If?” Jesus says. “All things are possible to him who believes.” “I do believe,” the man says, “Help my unbelief.” Like most of us, he was a mixture of trust and doubt. How much faith did he have? “Enough to come to Jesus,” Hallesby writes. “And that was enough.”

“Faith is the venture that steps off the tangible; and in the doing of it, demonstrates to its own soul the reality of the intangible” (G. Campbell Morgan).