The Day Gravity Stopped

What do you depend on in your life? What do you place all your confidence in—your skill, your ability to get the job done? Maybe you place all your confidence in your ability to pick the right string of numbers, the right score, or the fastest horse. When life is crumbling around us like a donut left too long on the counter, we tend to move to that in which we have the most confidence, for survival. How often is that the spouse who just left for good or the job from which you thought you would retire? Maybe it is the health that you enjoyed for so long, only now to see the doctor pause to clear his throat.

Why should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity at my heels surrounds me? Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him—for the redemption of their souls is costly, and it shall cease forever—that he should continue to live eternally, and not see the Pit. —Psalm 49: 5-9

David, the writer of this psalm, was considering the value of his soul, and seeing what others were doing to protect and preserve theirs. He sees them trusting in their gold and silver, that somehow, they can come up with the ransom, the fee if you would, that would preserve their soul and give it eternal life, and not the Pit. He continues, telling us what he saw:

For he sees wise men die; like-wise the fool and the senseless person perish, and leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever, their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless man, though in honor, does not remain; he is like the beasts that perish. —Psalms 49: 10-12

He sees that man is standing at the threshold of eternity and his soul stands in the balance. Those things he had placed his confidence in, those things that he leaned upon in tough times, will not make the grade when the soul is in need. Their money, wisdom, fame and power will not pay the ransom

As we cut down the last tree, a giant ash 90 feet tall, the chain saw did its job, cutting a fine hinge cut, releasing the tree to fall as gravity would pull it down on its heavy side. But gravity failed to work. The tree sat still. No worries; the bulldozer moved up to give it a nudge, a push if you would, but again nothing. Finally, with the encouraging of the dozer, the tree was pushed off the stump completely, proving that the chain saw did its job. Still the tree stayed upright as if it were still on its stump. Further encouragement from the dozer caused the tree to twist to the left and lean into a neighboring tree for support. Still gravity demanded that the tree should fall into the opening prepared for it, but gravity refused to do its job. With great care, a long, heavy chain was wrapped around the tree trunk, and the tractor began to pull the bottom of the tree, away from its support system. Gravity should now take over and the tree top should release, and it all should fall to the ground. Nope, not going to happen, the tree top now clutched its neighbor in a fierce defiance of gravity. (I searched for a number to call, to find out why gravity wasn’t working, but all I got was elevator music, and the elevator wasn’t going down either.)

This is the way of those who are foolish, and of their posterity who approve their sayings. Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling. —Psalms 49: 13-14

Like some of us, that old ash tree was doing everything it could to delay the inevitable, to stay upright, even though the reality of the crash was coming. The bulldozer, as it pulled the base of the tree, eventually had the entire tree suspended in the air, a tree that weighed close to two tons, with nothing holding it up but a few wooden branches. Then gravity got back to work, and with a crash the tree slammed to the ground. Gravity won.

Gravity is a reminder to us that there are absolutes to our lives. We can put our trust in the latest diet; we can exercise; we can trust in doctors, money, and even homemade remedies, but in the end, gravity will win. We will return to the dust from which we came. You and I are mortal, and somewhere ahead lurks death. When it comes, what will matter then is what we did for our soul. The soul is priceless, only God can redeem it, only God can pay the price for it.

But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me. —Psalms 49:15

Excerpted from Side Roads, Snares, and Souls, Bradley Antill author. Find more at onatreeforestry.com