THURSDAY 12th
Psalm 73
NIV (v2) – ‘But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.’
ESV (v2) – ‘But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.’
When we moved to Rhyl back in 2006, some friends of ours from Hereford also moved to Llandudno at around the same time, so on one occasion I went with our daughter Laura to visit them and to go for a walk on what is known as the Little Orme, they had a dog and used to go there for his walks. While we were walking around the perimeter, I stepped a little too close to the edge and lost my footing and slipped, fortunately I managed to grab the ground with my hands as I was falling and prevented myself from falling over the cliff edge and to go crashing down onto the rocks below or even into the sea. It was a scary moment in time! Now, it was my own fault for three reasons, one, I should not have walked so close to the edge, two, I had not worn proper footwear for such an occasion and three, as a forty something year old bloke I should have known better. I put myself at risk of slipping and the consequences that could have been do not bear thinking about!
I wonder how often we have put ourselves at risk of slipping in our Christian walk, we should have known better but we have walked a little to close to the edge, we have acted foolishly, we have been somewhere or done something we know is foolish, we had almost slipped, we had nearly lost our foothold, but thank God that he was there to grab us by the hand and to pull us back, to draw us to a place of safety.
I simply just want to leave a challenge to one and all today, how is your Christian walk, how close are you genuinely walking with God or are you putting yourself at risk by walking too close to the edge, perhaps flirting with the world, maybe neglecting good daily Christian habits, may we all examine our ways and as a result put our feet firmly upon the solid Rock, Christ Jesus, and remind ourselves that it is the steps of the GOOD or the GODLY man and woman that are ordered by the Lord, when he delights in His way. (Psalm 37:23) ‘Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!’ Psalm 119:5 Interestingly if you continue into Psalm 73, we read in verse 18, ‘Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away by terrors.’ The fate of those who choose to walk in the ways of the world instead of the ways of God is terrifying! How much better to ensure we are walking close with God.
Did I learn my lesson, up to a point yes, but I have acted recklessly since, a few years ago in Rhyl we had an enormous storm, there was widespread flooding as the sea defences broke and the sea came gushing through the sea walls, the waves were like nothing I had ever seen before or since and I decided to don a good raincoat and go and do some photography, I went up to the sea front which was only a ten minute walk away and began to walk along the sea front being blown by the wind, getting soaked and grabbing a few shots, I came to a point where there was a wall that I could hide behind or shelter behind to grab some photos of the waves crashing over the front, eventually the water began to swirl around me and the wind was forcing the waves to crash against the wall so hard that I decided to go for better cover, almost immediately after I had moved the wall came crashing down, it would have fallen over me! See I was pushing my luck so to speak, thinking it would be all okay! Excuse me using the word luck, but you understand what I mean, how often do we push our luck, move the boundaries thinking we can do this or go there, and it will be all okay while at the same time the devil is waiting to pounce, to take his opportunity to snatch us and drag us into a place of destruction. Keep close to God, do not flirt with the world, allow God to order your steps and to keep you from falling.