Life on the Edge
By Elin Henderson
“Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling…”
Jude 1:24a (KJV)
Do you ever get the feeling that you
are living life on the edge of a cliff? That the dirt and rocks are crumbling
under your feet, and the solid ground is threatening to give way and send you
tumbling? The pressures of life seem to be pushing us over that edge. There is
only one hope for rescue, for relief, for safety... and that is “Him who
is able to keep you from falling.”
Many of us can testify that we spend
more of our time “on the edge” hanging on for dear life than on solid ground.
There are a lot of reasons for this. It is partly because of the many pressures
bearing upon us (family, work, friends, even church), as well as pressures from
within that we place on ourselves (guilt, attempting to appear successful,
etc.). And if that weren’t enough, our enemy is constantly trying to use those
same pressures to drive us over the edge, where we fall into the sin of
doubting God’s sufficiency.
As we are experiencing these
pressures, a panic can overtake us and send us in a desperate search for help,
for a solid footing. The world’s answer is “Eat better, to exercise, talk to a
friend, reduce our stress loads, take a vacation, etc.” While that advice is
not bad, at its best, it is only a temporary fix.
For a lasting solution, we need to
be reaching out to the ONLY source of strength, God Himself! His strong arm is
always ready to reach down and rescue us. His grip is not weak or insufficient.
He won’t let go!! Only when WE let go of HIS arm and
start reaching for other things do we find ourselves back where we started,
tottering on the edge of the cliff once more.
So the next time the pressures of
this life start pushing you towards the edge, and the ground beneath your feet
begins to crumble, reach out. Grab onto the only TRUE source of help, the only
One who can keep you stable as you live “life on the edge.”
GOING DEEPER:
1. What are some ways that we can
remind ourselves to continuously reach out to Him? Ideas: Time in His
Word, memorizing the Word, and/or prayer (on our own and with a good friend or
mentor).
2. What if we do fall? Then what?
Are we left alone to fend for ourselves? Isn’t it great that He is there for us
even when we fail and fall?
FURTHER READING:
Oakwood’s missionaries Elin
Henderson (a registered nurse) and her husband Phil serve as church planters
with Ethnos 360 in Mozambique, Africa.
Elin is mother to eighteen-year-old Callie and fifteen-year-old Elias.
