January 25, 2018

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO PICK ME UP WHEN I FALL

Psalm 37:24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

One of the most embarrassing experiences is when you fall in public. A person normally does not even feel the physical pain immediately, because the pain of embarrassment is so overwhelming. There is just no way to save face, to look graceful, or to look impressive to others when they watch you violently tumble down a sidewalk. By the way, I don’t care who you are, it is funny when somebody falls. You may be concerned at first, but later you will chuckle about it. You know it is true!

While falling in public is one of the most embarrassing experiences we can go through, falling in private is one of the most discouraging experiences we can go through. I am talking about our spiritual life, not our physical one. We have all been there haven’t we? Just when we feel we are stable, spiritual, and strong, we stumble over something that we never saw coming. And then there are some occasions that we know falling is probable if we don’t change some things in our life, but we unfortunately continue down that obstacle filled path anyway. This verse does not differentiate why we fall, it just deals with when we fall.

It is interesting that God does not say “if” we fall, He simply implies that we will fall. It seems that God quickly moves past the questions of how we fall, who is to blame for the fall, and what did we did in particular that made us fall. Instead, God quickly moves to what His response will be when we do.

First, God makes it clear that He will not kick us when we are down. The verse says that the individual that fell shall not be “cast down”. There are some people in each of our lives that will take care of that. (A little sarcastic laugh there).

God also makes it clear that He does not want us to stay down. The word “utterly” carries the meaning of permanent, totally, or completely. God says when we fall, it does not mean it is final, or permanent.

Finally, God also makes it clear that not only will He not hold it against us, not only that He does not want us to stay down, but that God will do everything possible to pick us back up. God uses the word “upholdeth”. It means a continuous process. It means that God was there to help before we fell, He was there to help when we fell, and He will be there to help after we fall. He will be the first one in line to reach down and pick us up.

Today if you are “down” because of a “fall”, I am persuaded that He is able to pick you up!