He Loves You Too Much to Let Go

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.” (Ps 37:23-24 AV)

 

There is really good news here.  For those who desire to walk according to the word of God yet know they always do not, there is hope above.  The hope comes in two ways.  First, the way a good man walks is ordered by the LORD.  If the good man desires the ways of the LORD, the LORD will make sure he has the opportunity to walk therein.  Not also the good man delights in the ordered was of the LORD because he has a desire to walk within that ordered way.  But also note the next verse.  Note if the good man’s steps are ordered by the LORD that when he does fall, The LORD will not cast him out.  The LORD will not reject the saint who desires to walk in the ways of the word of God.  Not only that, but the LORD will uphold those that fail because they desire to walk in the ordered steps of the LORD!  There is hope for those who fight the spiritual battle of obedience even though they may not always be successful.  What a promise!  What encouragement!  What hope!

My father was passionate about teaching his children to swim and to skate.  He signed us up for swimming lessons as soon as we reached three feet tall.  When it came to ice skating, he took each and every one of his eleven children to the local ice rink and taught us how to ice skate.  We started out with double-bladed skates.  These skates were fashioned with two side-by-side blades which were separated by about a half-inch.  He would start us out with my dad straddling us on both sides.  He would hold us up and we were taught to push against the ice to move forward.  Then he would skate backward pulling us along as we learned to move our feet.  Once we were able to move along, the next step was to put us up against the wall and use the wall as a source of balance.  Within a few hours, we were skating on our own.  He had us wear those double-bladed skates for about a year before we graduated to grown-up skates.  Needless to say, there were plenty of spills.  There were banged-up knees.  Maybe a loose tooth or two.  But he was always there to pick us up and put us back on those skates.

The LORD is much the same way.  I am doing backflips over these two verses.  God will not abandon us simply because we fail him.  The good man is defined as one that delights in the ways of God regardless of how successful he or she is to walk in them.  If he or she delights in the ways of God, then God promises to not allow us to slip away if we happen to fall.  God is there even though we repeatedly fail Him.  He is there even when we are at our worst.  He is there even when we know better.  He is there because our hearts want to succeed even though our flesh will not cooperate.  Let us rejoice in the truth David shares with us.  Let us praise the name of our wonderful God who loves us even though we totally disappointing Him.  He is not going to let me go down the drain.  He loves me too much for that.  What a glorious reality!  What a wonderful God!  What a future we have knowing that no matter how much of a loser I might be, God will not let me fall away.  What grace!