Stumble Much?

I remember watching my sons learn how to walk. Any parent can recall those exciting moments when their child’s wobbly legs and oversized head make what seems impossible possible. And now your exercise begins. They no longer stay where you put them and they systematically alter the decorations of your home until you only have things above three feet. 

Some people get better at walking than others. I have watched some guys at the gym stand on a medicine ball and do squats. You can see the continual fight not to fall and sometimes gravity wins.

My point is, learning how to walk is really learning how not to fall. It is not that all of the sudden the forces of gravity alter for that child and they begin to walk. No, they have simply learned how to constantly compensate for those forces. In a real sense, we are always falling; we simply adjust our weight with strengthened muscles and learned balance. Our state of standing does not come natural. If you don’t believe me, wait until you lie down tonight on your bed. I don’t know about you, but I usually let out a long sigh of relief and an occasional moan as my “anti-falling” muscles get a break.

Life is a daily walk. We usually do okay, but there are moments, days, and sometimes weeks where we don’t do so well. Life has a way of causing us to stumble and sometimes fall. If you can’t relate, you are so young that someone is reading this to you or you need to come back from your over-medicated state of delusion. The great theologian Rocky Balboa said it best, “Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life.” In other words, the trials and tribulations of this life will wear you down until we end up in our natural state—face down.

The Bible doesn’t tell us any different. The book of John tells us, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.” (John 16:33) If that were all he said, it would be a sad day. But this tough sentence is sandwiched between two all-powerful statements of Jesus, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me…But take heart, because I have overcome the world." Our only source of strength, peace, and ability to stand again is found in the presence of Jesus Christ in our life. Regardless if you stubbed your proverbial toe and are skipping on one foot or shattered your femur and all you can do is lie there and cry out in agony, take hold of the One who earned victory for you, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Some of us simply need to adjust our stride, some need to learn how to walk again, and some have never taken their first step in eternal life. “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6).

Jesus makes the impossible possible. You can stand, walk, and run again even after divorce, addiction, depression, and a death. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. 

“Let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Spread your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with joy. For you bless the godly, O Lord; you surround them with your shield of love.”

Psalm 5:11-12