Crawling Through the Dark

In The Shawshank Redemption, there is a scene that has stayed with audiences for over thirty years. Andy Dufresne, wrongfully imprisoned for nearly two decades, finally makes his escape. But freedom does not come easily. He crawls through five hundred yards of raw sewage pipe — a passage so foul that most people would turn back after the first few feet. When he finally emerges on the other side, he stands in the pouring rain, arms outstretched, breathing free air for the first time in nineteen years.

What strikes me every time I watch that scene is not just the moment of freedom. It is the crawling. It is the darkness. It is the fact that Andy could not see the end of the tunnel while he was inside it. He had nothing but the conviction that the pipe led somewhere better than where he was.

That is what perseverance looks like in the life of faith. The Apostle Paul wrote, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9). Paul knew something about tunnels. He knew shipwrecks and prison cells and beatings. He kept crawling.

Some of you are in the tunnel right now. You cannot see daylight. The way forward is miserable, and turning back feels easier. But the God who called you through that passage is waiting on the other side. Keep crawling. The rain is coming.