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When I thought, "My foot slips," Your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. (Psalm 94:18)
Hey, how’s it going? What’s on your mind?
Probably one of two things, one of two kinds of stressors. First, you might be trying to go somewhere, press forward, build, dream, push. Second, you might be trying to not go somewhere, hold fast, keep it together, stand.
This verse is for you.
There comes a moment—and it comes more than once—when we feel like giving up. It’s too hard. It’s too hard to climb this path. It’s too hard to maintain this position. Our feet slip. When feet slip, we fall. Feet are the foundations, the contact between our hearts and reality. The rubber regarding the road. But “foot” is a metaphor here. Not literal feet. But something foundational in our selves. Some place that had hope begins to slide. A deep place coming undone. The end is nigh.
But! “The LORD held me up.” God is with you. Yes, yes, of course He is. No but listen. He is with you like this: He is watching your feet. Like a parent jogging alongside a wobbling bicycle, or skating slowly beside a new skater on fawn-like legs. God is not with you like some super hero off doing xyz, just waiting for us to scream as we plummet to the ground, waiting to rush over and catch us. He’s near.
To be more specific, He’s there. Where we are slipping. Our “foot.” In the part of our souls that is staring at the mud slick in front of our toes, the part of our selves that remembers how far we have to fall, the part of our heart that is half-seconds away from giving in or giving up. That’s where He is. Not off, high and exalted. Near, very near.
And what He gives to hold us up by—what we need, truly—is His steadfast love. He doesn’t give us “immediate success.” We want elevators to materialize and whisk us past these obstacles. We want erasers to fly through the air and disappear these struggles. We don’t get these things from God. We get steadfast love.
His steadfast love is what we need. It is fortified, thick and meaty; it suffices. It cleats our shoes and strengthens our toes. What we need is God’s steadfast love. That alone does the work that needs done in our souls.
That’s where we hear Who He is—What have we to fear? That’s where we hear what’s in store for us—What have we to fear? That’s where here who we are—What have we to fear?
O LORD, You are the Creator, the Covenant-keeper, the God-Who-Is. In ways beyond my comprehension, You are not only surveilling, but sustaining, directing, all things.
O LORD, You promise to restore to us all that our sin has lost and missed, and more. Far from being merely regret free, we will be fully satiated. Every cup in our being will be filled.
O LORD, You say I am Yours? You are my truest Father? One who will never stop jogging beside my wobbling bike? You say I am Yours, and special to You, and for You?
What we have in the Word of God’s Love is exactly what we need wherever our “foot slips.” His love will hold you up, where nothing else will, because nothing else can. Because we were made for His heart. So hear this: you have it.
Photo by Ethan Weil on Unsplash
