Who Slips “Up”?

Categories: Devotional,Exodus,Nehemiah,Psalms,Proverbs,Luke,Hebrews

Why does snow not drift naturally to either side of the driveway and leave the middle clean? Why does the wind not keep snowflakes off sidewalks? Why is nature not considerate enough to make a path in the right place?

Out our wintery window, I see swans slipping on the ice. Even in my dog’s four-wheel drive, she slips as she goes down the steps.
Human nature is like that. People rarely slip toward more stable footing or stray in the right direction. We do not lose our balance to find holiness or haphazardly drift toward discipline. Contrary to the common saying, who slips “up”?

Who has ever said, “Can you believe it? I was not paying careful attention, and suddenly, I found myself in a state of constant prayer?”

In a general sense, the steps of human beings go in the direction God “establishes” (Proverbs 16:9), but the wise are not drifters. The “prudent give thought to their steps” (14:15). Those who would inherit salvation “must pay the most careful attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away” (Hebrews 1:14, 2:1).

An Old Testament leader, Nehemiah, learned that neither individuals nor cultures drift toward revival (Nehemiah 13). Moses learned the same lesson (Exodus 32).
Culture can easily drift into individuals, too. God knows that. So, just like in the times of Moses and Nehemiah, he sends prophetic leaders to give his people’s eyes to see what he sees (cf. Luke 10:23).

So, while snow drifts into the wrong places, God’s people who pay careful attention to their lives and listen to Him and those whom God sends will not perilously drift away. King David learned this too to sing in Psalm 16:11: You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. You make known to me the path of life.

Now that’s something to celebrate!

Author: Toby Larson

Toby Larson leads Celebration International. He is a husband and father of 5. Whether he's teaching, hitting tennis balls, sailing a Hobie, serving in Asia, skiing on water or snow, Toby is passionate about the love of God and the love of life. Read more ...