We All Have UPs and DOWNs

Cry Out to God for Help

The last post ended with "As (God's) children, the Father's blessing doesn't flow until we are responding to the Father's desire." In the Bible reading from January 14–15 (Genesis 15–16 & Matthew 14–15) I was encouraged by a complimentary truth to the previous post. God knows our shortcomings and is always ready to lift us up when we call in a fall. 

Abram was considered righteous by God when He believed what God had promised him (Genesis 15:6). And yet like Adam, who was persuaded to do wrong by his wife, Abram listened to his wife's plan to obtain an heir through Hagar. Abram was riding high in chapter 15 and was shot down in chapter 16. In tomorrow's reading (chapter 17) we'll see that God's plan for countless descendants would be fulfilled through his wife, Sarai. 

The New Testament reading for the day from Matthew 14 confirmed that when we take our eyes off from the Lord--when we misstep--we fall short just like Abram. In Matthew we find the disciples out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee during a storm. When Jesus appears to them walking on the water, Peter says, "If it is you Lord, command that I come and I will come to you." Jesus did command it and Peter got out of the boat and began walking toward Jesus on the water. This is a clear example of Peter's faith which pleases God, just like it did with Abram. However, when Peter took his eyes off from Jesus (v. 30) he fell short. 

We all fall short. Paul writes about it in Romans 6:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." In case we think this is an experience only for those before they begin a relationship with Jesus, John writes about the Christian's experience in 1 John 1:8, "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us." And if we think that we can reach a level of maturity where this won't be the case, James writes to leaders in James 3:2, "For we all stumble in many ways." We all fall short. 

But praise be to God He always is ready to lift us up when we cry out, like He did with Peter. "He cried out, 'Lord save me!' Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him" (Matthew 14:30b–31a). In our walks with the Lord we will all have our mountain top experiences, but guaranteed we will all have those instances or even seasons of short-comings (eg. mistakes, missteps, errors, wrong-doing, sin). God wants to continue the blessing, but we have to strengthen our resolve (faith) by crying out to Him for help.