Morning
Time: 11:25 AM PST
"Able to keep you from falling." --Jude 24
In some sense the path to heaven is very safe, but in other respects there is
no road so dangerous. It is beset with difficulties. One false step (and
how easy it is to take that if grace be absent), and down we go. What a slippery
path is that which some of us have to tread! How many times have we to exclaim
with the Psalmist, "My feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped."
If we were strong, sure-footed mountaineers, this would not matter so much; but
in ourselves, how weak we are! In the best roads we soon falter,
in the smoothest paths we quickly stumble. These feeble knees of ours can
scarcely support our tottering weight. A straw may throw us, and a pebble can
wound us; we are mere children tremblingly taking our first steps in the walk of
faith, our heavenly Father holds us by the arms or we should soon be down. Oh,
if we are kept from falling, how must we bless the patient power which watches
over us day by day! Think, how prone we are to sin, how apt to choose danger,
how strong our tendency to cast ourselves down, and these reflections will make
us sing more sweetly than we have ever done, "Glory be to Him, who is able to
keep us from falling." We have many foes who try to push us down. The
road is rough and we are weak, but in addition to this, enemies lurk in ambush,
who rush out when we least expect them, and labour to trip us up, or hurl us
down the nearest precipice. Only an Almighty arm can preserve us from these
unseen foes, who are seeking to destroy us. Such an arm is engaged for our
defence. He is faithful that hath promised, and He is able to keep us from
falling, so that with a deep sense of our utter weakness, we may cherish a firm
belief in our perfect safety, and say, with joyful confidence,
"Against me earth and hell combine,
But on my side is power divine;
Jesus is all, and He is mine!"