A dead end can be a negative or a positive, depending on your viewpoint. But when you come upon one unexpectedly, it can mean real trouble.
Whatever you call it—caving, spelunking … crazy—exploring under the earth just draws some people. My friend and I were two of those people. We started out walking. Then we had to crouch a bit. Soon enough, we were crawling on all fours. All of this to find the rumored “crystal cave.”
And always moving on a slight decline.
In time, the tunnel dimensions grew tight. We were completely flat. We had lost the ability to turn over on our backs. There was only enough ceiling height for us and our gear.
We eventually found ourselves at a juncture. Left? Right? Like many of life’s choices, the two tunnels bore no sign to indicate the best choice. For no particular reason, we chose the left tunnel. We expected more decline and got excited when the tunnel turned even more downward—until we came to the wall.
Dead end.
So there we were, one in front of the other, heads down, feet up. At this point, the tunnel was too tight for us to turn around. We hadn't found the crystal cave. We couldn't go forward. We were out of options.
We just wanted to give up.
Are you feeling that? The claustrophobia? That sense of failure? No room to maneuver? Nowhere to turn? Stuck between a rock and a hard place?
Tzoros is the Hebrew word for this situation. It's the word for trouble. But not just any run-of-the-mill trouble. It means dire straits, nowhere to turn, between a rock and a hard place, no room to maneuver, out of options, no margin.
That's the word in this week's Psalm 91 passage where God says, "Those who love me…I will be with them in trouble [tzoros].”
More often than not, we don’t see tzoros coming. Whether we expect it or are caught off guard, what a difference it makes to not be alone! My friend and I were able to discuss our situation, cheer each other up, and crawl backward to that earlier junction. It took a little longer, but our wrong turn helped us know which was the right turn. And taking that other tunnel led us to the crystal cave (which was breathtakingly beautiful and well worth all the trouble).
In “Traveling Mercies,” Anne Lamott writes: "This is the most profound spiritual truth I know: that even when we're most sure that love can't conquer all, it seems to anyway. It goes down into the rat hole with us…and there it swells and comforts. It gives us second winds, third winds, hundredth winds."
That is God's response to no margin, to dire straits, to "out of options," to trouble so bad it needs a special word to describe it. God knows when we are in tzoros and will be with us in it. God goes down into it with us. God meets us at the dead end—even if we’ve been there before!
No matter how much tzoros, God's expansive (and expanding) love truly can conquer all.
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PHOTO: Photoshop Express
Though not to everyone’s liking, Anne’s book turned out to be something I needed. It might be the same for you. Here’s the Goodreads link to Anne Lamott’s “Traveling Mercies.”
NOTE: Even though I used Psalm 91 in this week's reflection, you should read all of this week’s scriptures. This is one of those weeks when they all revolve around the same topics: choosing to occupy a reality governed by God, doing the things that really matter, thinking differently about our lives because there is a really good reason for it all.
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Join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We meet at 8:00 on Zoom** and in person at Our Breakfast Place restaurant for an interesting hour of food, scripture, and fellowship.
Picks and shovels must be checked at the door.
Blessings,
Steve
**Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947678414
SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK
Find them here:
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=384&z=p&d=77
Print them here:
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_Proper21.pdf
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
Amos 6:1a, 4-7
Psalm 146
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Luke 16:19-31
Proper 21 (26) (September 28, 2025)
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