I had gone. . . with a multitude that kept holyday (Psalm 42:4)

King David wrote in Psalms of going with the throng of worshipers to the house of God. Though sometimes he went there alone, he often spoke of testifying to the congregation — telling of God’s wonderful works and ways to a group of God’s people — which gave him strength.

We, too, serve God in a community of believers. That is His plan. When we are born into the kingdom of God it is through the action of a church, which is the mother of us all, giving birth to a new saint of God.

We start off in the center of the pack, so to speak. We want to experience what God is doing through His people. We want to be closest to the front, the leadership, the place where excitement comes about. We somehow know it is the safest place to be. The lovers of God’s Word and of new saints of God know it is the best place for their newly born children of God to walk.

But life doesn’t simply flow along this way until we die. God said in His word, “It is impossible but that offences should come, …” (Luke 17:1) Though these feel like accidental intrusions on our happy journey, they’re actually part of the process of forming us to the mature saints of God He wants us to be. When we walk along we will experience some pain, some weariness, some unexpected actions in life that allow us to grow. But during these seasons we can find ourselves failing to step as high, to walk as briskly as we had. If we aren’t careful, we may not even notice that we are no longer in the center of the pack, but lagging toward the rear.

When the children of Israel crossed the wilderness on their way from Egypt to the Promised Land, they were plagued by those who lurked along the way, waiting for the rear of the columns to come by, so they could rush out and take some of the weak and the frail, or those who’d just grown weary and lost the will to keep up. It is certainly the same today for those who are on their journey from the Egypt of our past to the promise of life forever with our God.

Should we look up to realize we have gravitated to the back of the pack, we must recognize we have become more vulnerable to attack without the strong support of those who would gladly surround us during our struggle. Sin or distraction or pain or loss or the anger of offense could be causes of our no longer keeping pace with those in the middle of the pack. But once we do allow ourselves to lag behind, we must realize that we are steps away from disaster. If those who would come alongside and attempt to support and prompt us to move to a safer place are refused or rejected, our situation is becoming grave.

There can easily come a time when we find ourselves stumbling at something that we once would have stepped over, or been helped to see and go around, and we fall. No other explanation for it. We just fall. At this point, we have the responsibility to choose what we will do next. We can falter in our resolve to make it to the Promised Land and turn aside to see what we can put together to just get by until death comes.

Or we can begin to try to catch up again. Often those who fall or stumble are not that far behind the group when that occurs. They could catch up. It is the most crucial time of their eternity. They can choose to struggle back to their feet and lean forward with all they have to get back where they need to be.

What would that look like in reality? Prayer, repentance, seeking God for restoration, reading the Word of God on their own consistently, and staying faithful to services at the house of God will help build stamina into one on the journey of a lifetime.

It just may be that realizing how close they came to disaster can cause them to quicken their steps and stay in the middle of the pack for the duration. Not doing so could cause them to suspect that life outside the pack isn’t so bad after all, luring them to linger there a little longer — until sudden destruction comes.

Real struggles cause real consequences. But there is a choice. How does God see this balance? Consider these Scriptures:

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. (Hebrew 12:12-13) This is spoken as a commandment; in other words, this is what you are to do if you find yourself weak – you have a responsibility to press forward and try to regain the strength to keep walking.

And looking round about upon them all, he [Jesus] said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other. (Luke 6:10) Someone whose withered hand was beyond help and hadn’t been straightened out in many years was told to straighten it. There was a part of the solution he was held responsible for.

Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. (Job 38:3) After all Job had been through, when sympathy would be the expected response from God, the exact opposite was the case. God directed him to stand up like a man and hear what He would declare to him.

God truly loves us, and feels our pain, but He does expect us to use the tools He gives to move forward, at least in spirit when we can’t do so in the flesh. If we’re constantly leaning forward, we’ll still be headed in the right direction, even if we stumble.

Stay with the pack.

The Bible Study tab on my homepage has the information you’ll need to start this journey if you haven’t done so. Check it out and let me know what you think, then. . .

Keep walking.