The Lauterbrunnen valley in Switzerland is absolutely stunning. It is home to 72 waterfalls that tumble off the 90 foot encircling cliffs into the verdant valley below. Thanks to my husband’s employment with a Swiss based company for a number of years, we have enjoyed the privilege of extra excursions to this extraordinary place. There is one waterfall, the Staubach falls, that matches one’s vision of a quintessential Swiss waterfall cascading behind the steeple of a quaint church which is nestled in the iconic village of Lauterbrunnen. As surreal as this picture appears to be, I can testify that it really does exist and is more beautiful than the pictures can possibly capture. 

What does the river look like before it becomes airborne, plunging into the valley below? What does it sound like? Our family, and perhaps me moreso, wanted answers to these questions. To find answers required a hike from the valley floor, traversing back and forth as the trail switch-backed across the headwall and ascended into the pine covered slopes leading up into the mountains. After crossing stream after stream, we finally reached a bridge with a sign indicating that this was at last the Staubach river. It was pulsing with snowmelt from the mid-May temperatures and I stood on the bridge watching and listening. Rev.1:15 tells us that, “his voice is like the roar of many waters.” So I paused, waiting to receive any message that the roar of these waters might contain. To my surprise, these are the words that came to mind, “Can you stop the flow of this river? Can you hold back these waters?”  What a ludicrous question, I thought to myself, given the volume of water and the force of its flow. I could not imagine resisting, no less stopping this rushing river. It would be utterly futile to even try. As I pondered the first statement, a second came to mind.  “Even so it is futile to try to thwart will or stop my purposes. I am coming.” I could imagine Job standing beside me on the bridge, seeing the unstoppable flow of the water and declaring,

“I know that you can do all things,

And that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” Job:42:2

At some point, maybe 50 yards below where I stood on the bridge as it spanned the river, the ground would give way. At that point the river would hurtle off the top of the cliff and become airborne, dividing into billions of tiny droplets flowing through space, forming the misty plume that plunged toward the valley below. 

If the flow of the river represents truth and ground represents time, while the river still clings to the side of the slope, there will be time for those who would resist and even try to reverse the flow. They might say,  “There is no truth, there is always more time, there is no God.”  But the river flows nevertheless and the water eventually makes its way around all obstacles as the inexorable flow of the river propels each tiny droplet down the mountain until suddenly the ground is no more – time runs out – life as we know it ends and we are hurtled into eternity. What then of truth and time and God?

If I thought that the Staubach waterfall was impressive and powerful, and it is, I was about to be overwhelmed by what I saw next. On the other side of the valley, hidden from view, is another cascade, the Trummelbach Falls. To access this waterfall required a hike toward the headwall. There, exploding from the side of the mountain, with the force of a hundred thousand water cannons, was the exit point for the Trummelbach. The thought of being met by the magnitude of such power actually gripped me with terror as I clung to the railing of the walking path. It was crazy, but then it got crazier. From there the pathway went inside the mountain to follow the course of the river as, over the millenia, it had actually carved its way into the rock of the headwall. If I thought that the waters of the Staubach river roared, I was about to understand what that word, roar, actually meant. The experience is hard to describe. If you Google Trummelbach Falls, you can see a video that might give you an idea of the sound. 

Absolutely deafening! In addition to the sight of the ragingly irrepressible waterfall and its sound as it smashed its way through the rocky crevasses and twisted canyons, was the feel under our feet. The mountain around us was quaking and shaken by the very force of the torrent. 

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,

Who could possibly stop this flow? One would be dashed into pieces to even attempt it. There was a healthy awe and also a healthy fear that came over us from being in the presence of such magnificent power. If this is what we feel and hear and see in the presence of the creation, how much more the Creator. But rather than fear that causes one to draw back, His is the fear that gives those who know and love Him, strong confidence that He is God and that there is none greater. 

“In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence,

And his children will have a refuge.

and his glory from the rising of the sun;

That one may turn away from the snares of death. Prov.14:26,27

Let all the earth fear the Lord;

Let all the inhabitants of the earth stand in awe of him!

For he spoke, and it came to be;

he commanded and it stood firm. Ps.33:8,9

I am God and there is no other;

I am God and there is none like me,

Declaring the end from the beginning

And from ancient times things not yet done,

Saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose…

I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;

I have purposed, and I will do it. Isa. 46:9-11

So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

for he will come like a rushing stream,

which the wind of the Lord drives. Isa.59:19

So what do you think as you read this post?

Have you ever tried to stop the flow of the river or perhaps alter its course? 

Does the flow and force of the water comfort you or does it frighten you or perhaps anger you? 

What do you think about the analogy of the flow of the river being like truth or the purposes of God, the ground representing time, and the cliff and empty space below analogous to the end of our time on earth and our entrance into eternity? Do you agree? Do you see these differently? And what of the statement, “I am coming.”? Is that comforting, alarming, irrelevant?

Consider the verses at the end of the post and let me add one other, 

all those who practice it have a good understanding.” Ps.111:10

Thanks for reading.

Martha