Watch Your Step!
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. - Psalm 37:23-24
I took a little tumble yesterday. It was nothing serious, but I am a little sore today. We were visiting a beautiful waterfall since it was such a lovely day and the dogs had an excess of energy. The trail was actually a very easy trail. The ground was packed hard, and there were only a few roots sticking up here and there. Easy going! The trouble came when I veered off the trail. My oldest dog decided she wanted to take a short cut down to the water so she could go for a swim. I (being the genius that I am sometimes) decided to follow her.
I honestly don't know what happened. One minute I was walking carefully down the steep slope, and the next I was covered in mud and sitting on my bottom at the bottom of the slope. It happened so fast that I really didn't even have time to catch myself, although I tried. (My left wrist and shoulder can attest to that.) After a couple of minutes, I rose on my shaking legs and dusted my clothes off the best I could.
Isn't life the same way sometimes? You're walking along, minding your own business, and then suddenly you find yourself sprawled on the ground. The truth is life is hard, and we will fall. We will face circumstances that will knock our feet right out from under us. Encouraging? Hardly. But, what is encouraging is knowing that our Heavenly Father is ready to pick us up, dust us off, and help us to get back on the right path.
If I hadn't gotten off the trail, I probably wouldn't have fallen. The same is true in our Christian walk. God has laid out a path for each of us. We would do well to stay on that path. Now, I'm not saying that if we always stay on that path we'll never have any trouble. Even Jesus was tempted by the devil, and He was certainly in the will of God. What I'm saying is that it's harder to fall when we're walking in the footsteps of the Savior. Sometimes, the path is rough. Sometimes, it isn't clearly marked. Sometimes, the path seems really long. But, it we veer off, we're sure to find trouble.
Let's try to avoid these falls. They're hard on the body, and even harder on the spirit! But, when we do fall, let's remember that the Lord is there with us, drying our tears and helping us to stand. What a precious promise!