Then relief, awareness settles in as the ground rushes up to meet your miscalculated step and an audible sigh escapes over your lips, that frozen slice of time thaws in a finger snap and your predictable steps continue onward.
That unknown, unsafe, unsure step shocks us. It interrupts the path we anticipated; we don't even realize we're anticipating that next step to find sold ground, it is an automatic assumption ingrained in our brains and bodies from millions of prior steps.
But that step juggles our world, and if we choose to sit in that sensation, our world can change forever.
1 Corinthians 10:13 in the Bible states that:
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
This verse is packed with meaty conversation points; but I want to hover in one spot here.
First, God doesn't experience the shock we feel when we misstep: He's always known where we're going to step. The only jolts He feels are the lightening bolts He throws down from the sky. He has NEVER known a misstep. He has calculated every single scenario and possibility, nothing is "news" to Him. (Take comfort in that!)
God doesn't say, "but if you are tempted"... He says "WHEN you are tempted"... so accept that we live in a fallen world and as humans, we will face being seduced by evil while we're in this world. Jesus prayed that we wouldn't be taken from this world but protected from the evil one (John 17:15).
The punch is that God provides a way out. That sounds nice, doesn't it? Unfortunately, I'm not confident it is as packaged as appealing as it looks. I have the impression that what this verse means is that God wants us to continue to take those "shocking steps". That when we've gone as far as we can go, to still take that NEXT step. Onto air, into nothingness. God loves us and knows what is best for us, which is why He wants us to take those scary steps. They can only bring us closer to Him, which is ultimately what is best for us. The best way I know how to describe this is to evince a verse from a truly incredible song by NEEDTOBREATHE here:
"All these victims stand in line for
"All these victims stand in line for
crumbs that fall from the table, just enough to get by.
All the while your invitation
wake on up from your slumber, open up your eyes." Listen!
Those "assumed"and "safe" steps we don't even think about put us to sleep; and when we feel that misstep-in that instance-we're alive, our eyes are opened. And when we live in that--wow the possibilities!
Even though it's hard, even though you feel you can't be stretched any farther--wiggle your toes and reach for that next step--and like the ground rushing up to save your fall, God WILL "...provide a way for you to stand up..."
Bottom line: Don't settle for crumbs.
