"for the righteous falls seven times and rises again,
but the wicked stumble in times of calamity."
-Proverbs 24:16
I resolved to go to the gym this morning. I had to get started again, or I wouldn't start at all. So at 5 am, my alarm went off, and I snoozed for another 20 or so minutes. I got to bed late, we had 3 baseball games yesterday, and I'm tired! But I prayed. I got up. I felt punch drunk, so I prayed some more. I didn't want to go on, yet I slipped my gym clothes and shoes on, and stumbled out the door anyway. I hadn't been for a few weeks, so I began slower than I normally would. Everything dragged, and hurt, but I kept going anyway. I knew I had to get started again or I wouldn't start at all, and it was by the grace and strength of God alone that I was able to do it.
Isn't that how life feels, much of the time? We feel beaten, broken, dragged down, worn out. Yet we have to keep going anyway. People try and marginalize us, victimize us, get us to quit, discourage us. We have to keep going. Yet our strength is not sufficient. We can't. Too many of us try and do it on our own, but on our own is trying to get a corpse to get up and walk. We're dead apart from Christ. And the old man inside of us all wants us to believer we're still dead even when we've put on Christ; we have to pray and keep moving. There's not other way. We have to thank God for the opportunities we have, and pray and keep moving. We have to fix our eyes on Jesus and keep moving. He is our hope, our joy and our strength. When all else fails and lets us down, He is never ending and never failing. He is always before us, urging us on, and by His Spirit, we can keep moving forward. Psalm 91 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge— no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
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