Fall Back
To him who is able to keep you 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 forevermore! Amen. Jude 24-25
Given my early life experiences it is no shock to me that trust does not come easily, when it comes at all. Today looking at these words “to him who is able to keep you from falling” I thought of that stupid (to me) exercise people do in various groups, self-help, youth group, mission planning etc. where one person is supposed to fall back trusting another person, positioned behind, to catch him. I hate it! The idea is to trustingly collapse into the arms of another person to illustrate how you can count on each other in other circumstances. It’s not a huge leap of faith really. If it were just the two of them in the room the one in back may or may not catch the one in front. However, in a group of people if you don’t catch the person you will look like a jerk, or as the exercise is pointing out, someone who can’t be trusted.
It is an activity in which I have never taken part, nor do I ever intend to take part. I am not a trusting person. In fact, trust, real trust, as I said, comes very hard to me. In that situation, regardless of who was behind me, I would be fairly sure that they wouldn’t catch me. It may happen by design, they can’t be trusted or they’re trying to be funny. It may happen by accident, they get distracted or we misjudge the distance. In any case it is my belief that if I were to try such an experiment I would end up on my bottom.
It begs the question do I trust that God is able to keep me from falling? I do. I believe that He is able to do it. What I’m not sure of is that He wants to keep me from falling.
We used to sing this doxology in church. In that song it is worded a bit differently. It says, “to him who is able to keep you from stumbling.” Well, I’ve stumbled and fallen enough times in my life to know that God is able to keep it from happening but He does allow it. Moreover He allows it for reasons I very often do not understand. I have figuratively and literally fallen on my face as well as my backside. It hurts and it is humiliating. Sometimes I can see that it is a learning experience but sometimes all I can see is humiliation.
I do not doubt God for a second. I believe He is strong, willing and most certainly able. What I don’t believe is that I am wise enough, humble enough or trusting enough to receive it. The rest of the words in the doxology are about giving glory to God. I can only hope my lack of trust does not hinder my ability to glorify my God. Friends if any of this seems familiar to you, join me in a prayer to fully release ourselves to God, to give Him full control and to willingly fall back into His arms.
Given my early life experiences it is no shock to me that trust does not come easily, when it comes at all. Today looking at these words “to him who is able to keep you from falling” I thought of that stupid (to me) exercise people do in various groups, self-help, youth group, mission planning etc. where one person is supposed to fall back trusting another person, positioned behind, to catch him. I hate it! The idea is to trustingly collapse into the arms of another person to illustrate how you can count on each other in other circumstances. It’s not a huge leap of faith really. If it were just the two of them in the room the one in back may or may not catch the one in front. However, in a group of people if you don’t catch the person you will look like a jerk, or as the exercise is pointing out, someone who can’t be trusted.
It is an activity in which I have never taken part, nor do I ever intend to take part. I am not a trusting person. In fact, trust, real trust, as I said, comes very hard to me. In that situation, regardless of who was behind me, I would be fairly sure that they wouldn’t catch me. It may happen by design, they can’t be trusted or they’re trying to be funny. It may happen by accident, they get distracted or we misjudge the distance. In any case it is my belief that if I were to try such an experiment I would end up on my bottom.
It begs the question do I trust that God is able to keep me from falling? I do. I believe that He is able to do it. What I’m not sure of is that He wants to keep me from falling.
We used to sing this doxology in church. In that song it is worded a bit differently. It says, “to him who is able to keep you from stumbling.” Well, I’ve stumbled and fallen enough times in my life to know that God is able to keep it from happening but He does allow it. Moreover He allows it for reasons I very often do not understand. I have figuratively and literally fallen on my face as well as my backside. It hurts and it is humiliating. Sometimes I can see that it is a learning experience but sometimes all I can see is humiliation.
I do not doubt God for a second. I believe He is strong, willing and most certainly able. What I don’t believe is that I am wise enough, humble enough or trusting enough to receive it. The rest of the words in the doxology are about giving glory to God. I can only hope my lack of trust does not hinder my ability to glorify my God. Friends if any of this seems familiar to you, join me in a prayer to fully release ourselves to God, to give Him full control and to willingly fall back into His arms.
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