Help! I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up

“The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down”
Psalm 145:13b-14

I don’t know why but this week’s passage reminded me of that old television commercial for personal distress alarms. You know the one with the older lady lying on the floor, kicking her legs and yelling “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” The commercial became a joke, but there is some truth in it. Sometimes we do fall – physically and sometimes spiritually – and we can’t get ourselves back up. David reminds us this week that God will be there to pick us up.

There are plenty of stories in the Bible about people who have fallen and wouldn’t have been able to get back up if God hadn’t stepped in. Peter’s denial of Jesus is one example. David’s time in the wilderness on the run from Saul another. Jonah’s time-out in the belly of a big fish still another. David really knew what it meant to fall once he had become king and decided to take something, rather someone who belonged to someone else. When David finally realized how far he had fallen he knew the only One who could help him up was his God. The woman caught in adultery that was brought before Jesus knew how far she had fallen, what she may not have known was that Jesus was the only One who loved her enough to help her up.

Plenty of stories about fallen people being picked up by a loving, compassionate grace filled God. A word of caution here – when we fall, God will pick us up, dust us off, forgive us and set us back on track but that doesn’t mean our lives all of a sudden become perfect. It doesn’t mean that we may not have to face the consequences of our fall. It does mean that He will be with us holding us up and helping us to clean up the mess we've made.

Then once we've been helped up, we are meant to use our experience with God’s grace to help others up who have fallen – because we've been there and understand.

We all fall once in a while – sometimes we can get up on our own and sometimes we start yelling “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” If no one else is there to help Jesus will be.

A Prayer
Father, thank you; for being faithful in keeping your promises. Thank you for picking us up when we fall, for dusting us off and forgiving us. Thank you for going even further and helping us clean up the mess we’ve made on the way down. Thank you that we are never really alone. In the name of Jesus who picks us up we pray – Amen.