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There’s a particular commercial on TV that I see frequently. You do as well. It is for a monitoring device for the elderly. You know the one I am talking about. It shows a woman, older but clearly not elderly, having fallen in her bathroom & crying out unemotionally, “Help me! I’ve fallen & I can’t get up!!!” It makes me laugh uncontrollably every time I see it. Her lack of emotions is what gets to me.

On a Sunday morning a few weeks ago, I sat to put moisturizer on my feet. I usually wear slippers around the house. For whatever reason, I did not have them on that morning. Once done with the moisturizing process, I stood up to go put my moisturizer away & you got it, I slipped & went straight down on my bum. In a flash, I went into hysterics laughing & yelled out, “Help me! I’ve fallen & I can’t get up!”. Which was true by the way. The reason I could not get up was not due to injury but due to a combination of laughter & greasy feet. Danny & I had such a time of laughter over this whole thing to the extent that I have wondered, “Why?”. What was the point of this experience?

Yesterday it hit me…..

None of us are above falling. NONE of us are above falling.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians of the Israelites. They were led out of Egypt. They followed a cloud by day & a pillar of fire by night. They passed through the Red Sea on dry ground. They ate food & drank water that was provided for them by God Himself every single day. Sounds pretty amazing, right?

Yet they grumbled & complained & went through cycles of rebellion & straying from God. And it is all written down for us to read about. Now I don’t know about you, but I am personally very thankful that my times of rebellion & sin are not recorded for anyone to read about. We are told,

“These things happened to them as examples & were written down as warnings for us.”                       (1 Corinthians 10:11 NIV).

Why?

So if you think you are standing firm, be careful you don’t fall!” (verse 12).

There you have it. We are only a step away from falling. You might think you are standing firm & then you find your feet sliding out from under you. But God has given us the means by which we can keep our feet under us & stay up – His Word. Read & know the examples that He has provided for us. They are there as examples. They show us the reality of what can occur. They are warnings meaning that they are “words of encouragement or reproof which leads to correct behavior.” (New Testament Lexical Aids).

So here’s the deal…

God’s desire is for us to stay on our feet. He always provides the means by which to do it. He has given us our emergency device if you would – His Word & prayer.

“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.” (verse 13 NIV).

So when I yell out like the woman in the commercial, “Help me! I’ve fallen & I can’t get up!”, He will be right there to get me back up on my feet. And He will be there for you as well.