Morning By Morning #283

To him who is able to keep you from falling…

Jude 24

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

In one sense the path to heaven is very safe, but in others there is no road so dangerous. It is plagued with difficulties. One misstep—an easy thing if grace is absent—and down we go. What a slippery path some of us must tread! How often do we have to exclaim with the psalmist, “My feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold” (Ps. 73:2)! If we were all strong, sure-footed mountaineers, this wouldn’t matter as much, but how weak we are in ourselves! Even on the best roads and the smoothest paths we quickly falter and stumble. These feeble knees of ours can barely support our unstable weight. A piece of straw may trip us and a pebble may bruise us, for we are mere children unsteadily taking our first steps in our walk of faith. If it were not for our heavenly Father holding us by the arm, we would quickly fall.

Since we are kept from falling, oh, how we should praise the patient Power who watches over us day by day! Think how prone we are to sin, how prone we are to choose a path of danger, and how strong our tendencies are even to trip ourselves. These thoughts should cause us to sing more sweetly than ever, Glory “to him who is able to keep [us] from falling”!

In this life we will encounter many foes trying to push us down. The road is rough and we are weak, but in addition, enemies lurk in an attempt to ambush us, jumping out when we least expect it. They work to trip us up or throw us down from the nearest precipice. Only the Almighty’s arm can preserve us from these unseen foes seeking to destroy us. His arm is employed for our defense, “for he who promised is faithful” (Heb. 10:23) and “is able to keep [us] from falling.”

Thus, with a deep sense of our utter weakness, may we gratefully cherish a firm belief in our complete safety, saying with joyful confidence:

Against me earth and hell combine,

But on my side is power divine;

Jesus is all, and He is mine!

John Newton, 1725 – 1807

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

The enemy who tempted Jesus still “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Quoting Psalm 91:12, Satan said to our Lord, “If you are the Son of God…throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone’” (Matt. 4:6). But Jesus turned the tables on the Devil, saying, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Matt. 4:7), a quote of Deuteronomy 6:16. May this be a lesson to us that our enemy may appear as “a roaring lion,” sounding quite spiritual at times, which is why Peter warned in the same verse to be “self-controlled and alert.”

Remember, however, that although the devil may portray himself as a “roaring lion,” he is an impostor. Jesus alone is the victorious lion, as we see here: “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed” (Rev. 5:5). And since we are “in Christ,” we too are victorious and kept by Him. Surely a God who is great enough to save us is great enough to keep us!