I hope this article finds you free from bumps, bruises, or broken bones. I just visited with someone who slipped on the ice and fell face forward bumping her head on the sidewalk. The winter season certainly makes walking a potentially dangerous experience. Now you might say, hey Mike, you’re kind of becoming a sissy aren’t you; what’s the big deal about walking on ice.
Well, I used to think that too until a few years ago when I stepped outside of a friend’s house on to a patch of ice which was hidden under some freshly fallen snow. Before I even knew what happened, I was laying on my back with severe pain in my shoulder. I wasn’t sure what happened, but I knew it wasn’t good. I couldn’t lift, or even move my arm, other than a few inches. A few days later I discovered I had cracked my shoulder blade.
Like walking on ice, my spiritual journey is also a potentially dangerous experience. For one thing, I have this fleshly desire to want to see what some slippery surfaces are like—it’s called temptation. And then in addition to my own foolishness and carelessness, the devil is always looking for ways to trip me up as well. He loves to lure me out on to that which is potentially hazardous, and then when I fall to temptation, he just laughs while I suffer the painful consequences. I don’t know about you, but I’ve suffered enough painful consequences of thinking I can handle playing around on slippery surfaces.
There are so many “icy traps” to look out for, but the good news for us is that there is “spiritual sidewalk salt” available. First of all, life is full of people who would like to knock us off our feet and yet God is always ready in our time of need to keep us from slipping, Psalm 94:18 says, “When I said, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your love, O Lord, supported me.”
Or when the enemy of envy begins tempting you to think that God blesses others more than you, and you begin slipping into the ruin of self pity, God reaches his hand out to hold you steady and to guide you through such foolish thinking (Psalm 73).
Psalm 66 is also a great reminder that God “has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping.” Oh yes, there may have been those times when he lets us fall, but by his great mercy, he is always protecting us from ourselves and from the devil.
One thing you and I can be sure of on our life’s journey; we will regularly face situations that are very slippery and potentially hazardous to our spiritual wellbeing, but thank God for those cleated shoes that we can put on. Proverbs 3:21 says that you and I must preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you… Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.
And “Now to him who is able to keep you and me from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forever more! Amen (Jude 24-25).
On Christ the solid rock I stand, Mike