"WATCH FOR FALLING ROCKS!"

I pray for something now that wasn't on my priority list earlier in my life. “Lord, keep me from falling!”

I didn't have a problem with my balance before. I could literally run to and fro in the fast lane of life. Being calendar-challenged now, compounded by neuropathy, changes the picture. My medical persons warn me not to fall because my “earth suit” is now more fragile and broken bones would be disastrous.

I see a correlation with my spiritual life as a Christian. Some of us solid Rock Christians, when undergoing pressures and trials, have been known to slip and stumble and fall. Due to the length of the journey of life and the weariness of always trudging uphill, some of us lose our balance and fall. 

Sometimes Christians whose life is built on the Rock, who have known the joy of the Lord, as time goes on grow cold and lose their joy. (Luke 8:13) “But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.”

Rather than adversity, it could be prosperity and success that contributes to our fall. (1 Timothy 6:9) “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.”

Do we think that we would never fall? Do I? (1 Corinthians 10:12) “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” The apostle Peter, of all people, bragged that although all others would fall away, he would never do so. You know the rest of the story.

Scripture instructs us to look out for ourselves lest we fall. Beyond that, we are responsible to lift up other “fallen rock” brothers and sisters in Christ.

Driving along the blue line roads of Virginia surrounded by forest and rocky formations close to the roadside, I have come upon signs warning “Watch for falling rocks!” Erosion loosens rocks that were once firmly embedded and they tumble down onto the traffic lanes. The fallen rocks become a danger to others, as do we. When we fall, we drag others down with us.

Peter sums it up from his own experience. (2 Peter 3:17) “You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked.”

One of the major factors contributing to our potential fallen state is when we have “fallen out of love” with our Lord. In Revelation 2:4 Jesus tells His own beloved ones, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

If we have become “fallen rocks,” it need not be permanent. Nor is it a problem only for us in our later years. Isaiah 40:30 “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.”

God promises to uphold us in our weakness and pick us up when we fall. (Psalm 37:24) “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand.” “The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down” (Psalm 145:14).