My Foot Is Slipping

             When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. (Psalm 94:18)

When your foot slips, what do you do? Last Wednesday, I was helping a friend weed a large garden bed at my church. It’s a “specimen” garden, with a variety of bushes and lots of mulch in a mound, meaning that once you step off the grass, you’re on an incline. I lost my balance more than once and grabbed at the twigs along the branches. It tends to surprise me that something less than ¼” in diameter can hold my weight sufficiently  along its length to keep me from falling. Of course, if I’d grabbed a twig above me, its strength might not be sufficient to hold my weight. It would bend or break, but the point is that the help we need when our feet slip need not be great or dramatic.

Dramatic, and possibly great, is what we want and want to give. I won’t go so far as to say that if my foot slips, I want to be swept off my feet and carried to safety, but something a little in that direction would be appreciated. Something that says, “Here, I’ve got you.” Twigs are the strong, silent type, rather like God. Oh, God can do the big dramatic scene, but it makes no sense when a twig will do.

                This brings me back to the idea from a few days ago. If God is at our right hand, when our feet slip, we can reach out for Him. He’s right there. Even better, if you’re walking hand-in-hand or arm-in-arm with someone and your foot slips, the other can help you without much apparent effort. The support is already there.

                Of course, more often than not, this is a metaphor, and the point is that we’re not accidentally slipping. We’ve let go of that supporting arm and walked out on a tilted three-inch ledge. Or, we want a dramatic rescue, so we flail our arms, not only not grabbing for help, but making it harder for anyone to grab our hands. How much more secure would our walk with God be if we held His hand and let Him hold ours?