Genesis 41:51

The Climbers

God hath made me forget all my trouble. Genesis 41:51.

In the city of Edinburgh there are a great many very high houses. In one of these lives an old lady. To reach her little top apartment from one particular street you have to climb a stair of a 105 steps. You would probably run up all the way, sometimes taking two or three steps at a time, and at the top not feel one bit tired.

One of her young friends, up for the first time, looked all round her room, then out at the window. “I like this,” he said “a rare place for an airplane station!” Another she was a girl visited her one night after it was dark. There was no light in the room, but down below were the lights of the city, and they twinkled, twinkled, just like so many stars. “How lovely!” the girl said. “It makes me think of Peter Pan's house up in the tree-tops.” But often the old lady's grown-up friends arrive quite out of breath. They have to rest before beginning to talk. While they are resting the old lady encourages them to look out at her windows, for then they are almost certain to say “It's worth the trouble of climbing up.” I must tell you that her “best” room has three windows, and each one looks in a different direction.

You want to know, of course, what is to be seen from these windows. Well, just down below and all round is part of the north side of the city with its ups and downs for Edinburgh is not flat; in the middle distance one can see the Forth and the coast of Fife; and beyond that are hills behind hills. And then there is the sky, the glorious sky.

It is a very long time ago since men discovered that hard work brought reward. “God hath made me forget all my trouble.” These were Joseph's words. You know the wonderful story of his life, and how he climbed up, and up, until he became a very great man in Egypt. Yet, old though the story is, our text, “God hath made me forget all my trouble,” might have been recorded as among the fireside reflections of a great and God-fearing business man of today. And I believe that Joseph himself, when he was a boy like some of you, felt all the more determined to succeed with every rebuff that came to him. How many of you have learnt that lesson?

I remember a little fellow this happened before any of you were born who competed for a prize in elementary Greek. His rival was very clever much cleverer than he was so he rose early and sat up late in his eagerness to come in first. He gained the prize. When he saw it, for a moment his heart sank. It was an old second-hand Greek New Testament. The boys then did not get such grand prizes as you do.

But I think I see that boy's face when his father stroked his hair and said, “Spur on, you'll be a scholar yet, George.”

George was in dead earnest. But there are those who climb who work for mere sport or, like the old lady's “Peter Pan” visitor, in order that they may find pretty things. No happier boys are to be found than those who love good honest sport; and no happier girl than the girl who has begun to love pictures. But in your happiness, don't forget For the great climb of your inner life the one that is in our minds needs your attention, not only every day, but every hour.

When I decided on today's text I said to myself, “I'll tell the boys and girls how our brave soldiers won battles in World War I. It is a story of lads being confronted with danger and death and triumphing over them. In their case climbing meant paying a great price for victory, but it was worth the trouble. They smiled at Death and refused to be afraid. The words of the old hymn take a new meaning:

A noble army, men and boys,

The matron and the maid,

Around the Savior's throne rejoice,

In robes of light arrayed;

They climbed the steep ascent of heaven

Through peril, toil and pain.

“God has made me forget all my trouble,” we can imagine them saying. “It was worth the trouble of climbing up.”