Morning, October 9
Go To Evening Reading
“Able to keep you from falling.”
Jude 24
In some sense the path to heaven is very safe, but in other respects
there is no road so dangerous . It is beset with difficulties. One false step (and how easy it is
to take that if grace be absent), and down we go. What a slippery
path is that which some of us have to tread! How many times have we
to exclaim with the Psalmist, “My feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped.” If we were strong, sure-footed mountaineers, this would not matter
so much; but in ourselves, how weak we are ! In the best roads we soon falter , in the smoothest paths we quickly stumble. These feeble knees of
ours can scarcely support our tottering weight. A straw may throw
us, and a pebble can wound us; we are mere children tremblingly taking
our first steps in the walk of faith, our heavenly Father holds us
by the arms or we should soon be down. Oh, if we are kept from falling,
how must we bless the patient power which watches over us day by day!
Think, how prone we are to sin, how apt to choose danger, how strong
our tendency to cast ourselves down, and these reflections will make
us sing more sweetly than we have ever done, “Glory be to him, who is able to keep us from falling.” We have many foes who try to push us down. The road is rough and we are weak, but in
addition to this, enemies lurk in ambush, who rush out when we least
expect them, and labour to trip us up, or hurl us down the nearest precipice. Only an Almighty arm can preserve us from
these unseen foes, who are seeking to destroy us. Such an arm is engaged
for our defence. He is faithful that hath promised, and he is able
to keep us from falling, so that with a deep sense of our utter weakness,
we may cherish a firm belief in our perfect safety, and say, with
joyful confidence,
“Against me earth and hell combine,
But on my side is power divine;
Jesus is all, and he is mine!”