Sitting on the Floor
I
love a nice, fluffy couch. I like to relax on a soft couch after a hard day at
work. Occasionally, I like to sit on my floor surrounded by pillows and watch
television. This feels so great. However, I have noticed that the older I have
become the harder it is to get up off of the floor. I know those of you who are
under 30 years old might not understand. But, those of us who have sailed
passed our thirtieth birthday know that there are just somethings that we can’t
do with as much ease as we used to. For me, getting up from my floor is one of
them.
As
I was pushing myself up from my floor the other day, I was thinking about how
hard it is to get up from such a low place. Then, it hit me. Just as it is hard
to get up from my floor, it is also hard to get up from a spiritual fall or
even a financial fall. It is downright hard!
It
seems like the whole world wants to kick you when you are down. When you have
no money, it seems like no one will give you any. It seems like no one has any
money to spare. It seems like no one cares. When you fall away from the church,
it seems like there is no one there who cares enough to ask you how you are doing.
It seems like there is no one who cares enough to find out what happened to
drive you away in the first place.
Maybe,
you sinned. Just maybe. Maybe, you found out something about one of your church
leaders, and you felt betrayed. You wonder why God doesn’t do something. You wonder
why he allows such heartache and pain. You are even tempted to wonder if he
cares or if he is “real” as the darkness of life begins to surround you. Like the
prodigal son, you find yourself sitting in the muck of the hog pen.
However,
we have to realize that it is all a trick of the enemy. Yes, God cares. Yes,
God is real. He longs to help us. He longs to guide us. But, he didn’t promise
us that we won’t have pains. He didn’t promise us that every day would be
sunshine. And, too often, our pain and suffering is the result of choices we
made…wrong turns that we took. We didn’t listen to God. We didn’t listen to our
parents or our friends. We listened to the siren song of sin. James 1:13-15 says,
“Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for
God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his
own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when
sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” When we give in to sin we open our
door to its consequences.
We
live in a world full of sin, and as a result of sin, we face life’s challenges.
But, we have the blessed assurance that God is there even in the mist of our
pain and sorrow. God is still there. Just as he was there for Job as he was
tried and tested.
Let
us lift up our eyes to the hills from which cometh our help. All of our help
comes from God. Let us speak encouraging words to ourselves and our situations
because we know that life and death are in the power of the tongue. Let us
speak life and hope and prosperity. Let us push ourselves up from the floor…from
the pit and walk boldly into God’s grace.
