“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18
“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,” Jude 1:24
A woman told me one day she had taken a fall. Not just a fall, to be precise. She had been falling. That day she had merely recounted one of her numerous falls. She wasn’t particularly old, mind you. But she had a disability, in medical terms anyway. Spiritually she seemed to have one also. The same one lots of us are prone to have – if we’re not careful. The kind of disability that leads to falling. And all the hurts and hardships that come with taking falls.
See, the woman had a cane to help her walk. She also had a walker. If you’re familiar with canes and walkers, whether you have used them or simply watched others do so, there is a mighty big difference. A cane is a long stick with a handle, in essence. It provides support. Some anyway. But the support is limited. After all, it provides only one additional “leg” for extra support when placed on the ground. But it has to be used in order to provide the support. A walker provides a lot more support. And plenty more balance. When used. Four well placed “legs,” or legs and wheels, when placed solidly on the ground can be enormously helpful for those at risk and/or prone to taking falls.
It didn’t take me long into the conversation to realize the woman had a secondary issue to the falls she was taking. She preferred the cane. I felt compelled to press her. I can only imagine the Spirit of God was at work bringing something to light in her heart. She didn’t want to be seen using a walker. Pride. So she gave up the extra support of the walker at times to be more acceptable in others’ eyes. She used the cane instead – and fell.
Perhaps you can relate. Pride precedes destruction, and haughtiness precedes falls, the Bible says. Trusting in Jesus Christ as Lord, learning to walk with God and to stop falling constantly into sin, we need to place our whole dependence on the Lord who can keep us from falling. How often, however, do we pridefully place our trust instead at least in part on ourselves, others, and this world, depending on the “canes” of life and facing destruction and falls? This is a spiritual disability, and a dangerous and deadly one at that.
May we strive daily to place our trust wholly on Christ and to walk humbly with the full weight of our hearts and lives on Him.