My Foot Slips

When I said, my foot slippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.

Psalm 94:18

We do not always walk surely and steadily.  The author of our text understood this.  There may be many things which cause our foot to slip. Physical affliction, particularly if it brings incessant pain and is an unending prospect, brings us to the point where we simply do not want to go on living.  We may experience mental depression or become a social outcast.  What hope do we have when all around our soul gives way and we cry out, ‘my foot slips?’  The psalmist knows the answer.  He says ‘Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up.’  Christ is the living manifestation of the mercy of God.  Christ has demonstrated in His ministry that He personally upholds us when our foot slips.  He ministered to Elijah when he demonstrated the signs of clinical depression and articulated that he wanted to die.  He sought and ministered to Peter when he felt there was no future for him in the work of God.  He ministered to Paul in the days of his imprisonment when he was all alone.  Christ mercifully upholds His people whose feet are about to slip for all the reasons we have considered and many more.  Our hope is not in self-help, or moral decisions to ‘choose joy’ or ‘think positive.’  When our foot is about to slip, our hope is in Christ.

Our Gracious, Compassionate Savior,
we rejoice that You hold us up,
when we are about to falter and fail.
We praise You that throughout all our life,
You will uphold us, until the day that we
set our foot upon the golden stair
that leads to the Throne of God.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning