Yesterday Cynda told us that Rebekah had taken her first steps. I had selfishly hoped that she would take her first steps this weekend while she was here visiting us. I wanted to be there for that moment. It is still very exciting. I can hardly wait to see her, and see those steps for myself.
I remember when Autumn took her first steps. Gina and I were visiting in Baton Rouge. While we were there I had a very special time. Even though Autumn could take a few steps, what she really wanted to do was to hold my hand and walk.
She wanted to go outside and walk up and down the sidewalk holding on to one finger. Holding on to my finger she had all the confidence in the world and could walk for hours. One afternoon we spent an hour walking outside as fast as her little legs could go. I kept expecting her to get tired of it, but she wanted to keep going. If I even tried to walk toward the door of the house she wouldn’t go that way.
When we went inside after more than an hour of walking, she kept going to the door and pounding on it. She wanted to go back outside and walk some more. Because I was the one who would take her walking she wanted to spend a lot of her time with me.
I have always loved my granddaughter, but getting to spend so much time with her made me love her even more. Walking together made us both closer to each other. I think that there are a lot of parallels between her experience learning to walk, and our experience being born again. When we are born again we are baby Christians and we have to learn to walk spiritually.
God used that illustration in Hosea 11:3 where it says: I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms.
In many places in the Bible the idea of God helping us walk with Him are brought out. In Psalms 37:23,24 the Bible says: “ The steps of the godly are directed by the LORD. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand.” What a beautiful illustration of the Christian life. We are to walk with God and he has promised to hold our hand.
Do we learn to walk with God in the same way that we learned to walk as babies, by trial and error, standing across the room from our Father and taking wobbly footsteps towards Him as he calls to us from a distance "Come to Daddy," and falling down repeatedly as we try to get it right? God has a different plan for us.
Psalms 56:13 says “You have delivered my soul from death. You have kept my feet from falling, so I will walk with you in light among the living”. God doesn’t want you to fall. He wants you to hold his hand.
As parents we want our children to learn to take care of themselves; to stand on their own two feet, right? After all, you won't be there for them forever. They need to learn to take care of themselves. So from babyhood to adulthood we are continually learning how to take care of ourselves.
God's goals for us are very different. He is our Eternal father; He is always available to us. Instead of wanting us to become increasingly independent, He wants us to learn to be increasingly dependent on Him. He wants us to walk with Him, our hand in His. He doesn't want us taking off on our own two feet. I believe that as human beings this is one of our hardest lessons. Have you ever taken a walk on a busy street with a two year old? You point out to him the pretty gardens you are walking past; the beautiful flowers, the scampering squirrel, the pretty song bird; but he's not interested. He's too busy trying to pry free from your hold. He can't stand holding your hand. He's a big boy now. He wants to walk on his own.
We as Christians are often like that. Instead of clinging to our Father's hand, we have this tendency to take off on our own two feet. There are so many charming things that take our attention from Him. Sometimes we don't like the restrictions that holding His hand puts on our life. Some of those Bible principles cramp our style. Sometimes we let the cares of this world pull us away from Him, and instead of holding tighter to His hand, we let go.
Whenever we let go we inevitably fall down and hurt ourselves and then we sink into discouragement and we look to God and we say "Father, what's this all about? You know I love you and I don't want to disappoint you. How could you let this happen to me?" And He looks at us sadly and says "Child, you let go of my hand. You took off on your own. I am able to keep you from falling. Keep your hand in mine."
We don’t know what is before us. Our only safety is in walking with Christ, our hand in His.
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