Afraid of falling?

About ten years ago during a few months, stairs terrified me. For some reason, I became fearful of falling. Once I stepped from the fourth step from the bottom into air and crashed. Then I recognized that I was trying to take longer steps than necessary. How strange. After a few weeks of being deliberate with each step, the problem was resolved. However, I am still careful on stairs (icy walkways too).

Today, Spurgeon points out that God’s compassion on His children includes picking us up when we fall.

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. (Psalm 103:13)

Falling could refer to a spiritual misstep, but also can be about physical plunges. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, one temptation included a suggestion that covered both risks.

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” (Matthew 4:5–6)

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Matthew 4:7) From this I learn that the promises to guard or rescue me from falling are for those times it just happens, not when I deliberately choose to do something foolish. Several of these promises are in the Psalms.

 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright. (Psalm 20:7–8)

Those who trust their own might or the might of others eventually collapse and fall. Only the Lord God is able to stand against anything, including time and diminished capacities. His strength endures forever.

The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand. (Psalm 37:23–24)

I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. (Psalm 118:13)

The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. (Psalm 145:14)

He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. (Psalm 145:19)

God guides my steps and delights in taking me where He wants me to go. That way might include a crash or two, but when I go down and cry out to Him, I discover that He is with me and holding my hand. Without the experience of a fall, I would not know what it is to be rescued and raised up by the Fatherly care of God. I could not testify to His amazing grace and tender-hearted concern for everything from the tiniest slip to the most colossal crash. For this, I am grateful!

I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. (Psalm 56:12–13)

Fear of heights?

My dear dad never spoke about his fear, but he always had us children climb up to put shingles on a new grain bin roof. Whenever we drove through the mountains, he suddenly needed a nap and my mother took the wheel. We dared not mention it or tease him about it.

However, one summer we took our parents to the mountains and insisted they take a gondola ride with us. Mom loved it. Dad gripped the railing, white-knuckled all the way to the top and back again. He didn’t trust the security of the gondola car and he didn’t enjoy the ride because of his fear of falling.

I’m afraid of heights too and that fear of falling is deeply rooted because I don’t like to fail (or fall) in any pursuit, not just physically. For that reason, I’m glad that right from the beginning of my life with Christ, I was taught that my salvation was secure. I will not fail to make heaven’s heights. My eternal life is a gift from God, not about anything I did or didn’t do, and He has the power to keep me secure as I travel through life with Him.

I’ve never been white-knuckled in the ride, but I know people who are. Instead of trusting the One who is carrying them to the top, they fearfully latch on to anything that they think will keep them safe. While most of those things (like faithful church attendance and behaving themselves) are good in themselves, their motivation (fear) keeps them from enjoying the trip and from appreciating the many things Jesus says about our security.

My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. (John 10:29)

In this verse, Jesus refers to God as His Father. As a child of God, I can put myself in the same category with Jesus, but not only that, how the Father took care of the Son is a measurement for my security. In this life, both good and bad things happened to Jesus and He was eventually murdered, but God raised Him from the dead. I can trust a Father who does that for His children.

Jesus also says I am brought to Him by His Father. I didn’t offer myself because my sin nature is such that it will not come to God without His enabling. Because He has the power to bring me to Jesus, I can trust His power to keep me there.

Jesus said God is greater than all. All means everything. Nothing can separate me from the love of God. The Bible says it and the Holy Spirit affirms it to my heart.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:28-39)

Nothing or no one can snatch me out of the safety of God’s protective and powerful hand. Because this is true, I’m not afraid of falling. I will reach my eternal destination and, by His grace, fear will not keep me from enjoying the trip.