A little over a week ago, I had the opportunity and privilege to bike the Green Bay Trail out on the North Shore for the 1st time. What a nice, smooth, flat trail! As I was driving home exhausted from the 20 miles of steady biking, God used an event to help illustrate some important truths...
We were on our way back, just turned our bikes around heading back through Highland Park. As we approached Highland Park High School, my brother Dan started to croon out a version of “Doe a deer” which I had never heard before. The lyrics were quite unique to say the least and I believe the origins of the song were circa “The Simpsons.” As I was trying to embrace the brilliance of the epic lyrics of the song, I didn’t realize my bike was headed for a narrow, yet deep groove in the pavement. My bike connected with the groove, I got stuck in it, and ended up falling to my left and into a fence...
Sometimes we ride along on our walk with Jesus on “auto-pilot.” When the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 6:14 “Stand” he truly was urging the church in Ephesus to stand guard and put on the whole armor of God. We may have received victory over a sin area in our life, but does that mean we can put ourselves on auto-pilot, not watching for the distractions around us and the deep, narrow, groove of temptation to fall back into sin on the path we are riding on. When we don’t stand we are more likely to fall into things, situations, that we shouldn’t be in. We get caught off guard sometimes, taken by surprise, because we are so use to just pedaling along without a care in the world. When really, we need to keep vigilant and keep our spiritual eyes open, knowing God’s Word and standing firm upon it.
As I looked back on falling into the fence, I thought of Jesus. Like he was catching me so I wouldn’t completely fall off of my bike and spill out onto the road. Do you know what I’m talking about? Has Jesus every been there for you when you were tempted, tried, ready to fall flat on your face? He is there experiencing it all with us and trying to help us get back on the right track, out of the groove we got ourselves into.
There is a song called “Jesus Be a Fence” by the popular gospel artist, Fred Hammond. “Jesus be a fence all around me everyday. Jesus I want you to protect me as I travel along the way. I know you can, I know you will, fight my battles if I just keep still. Lord be a fence all around me everyday.”
I didn’t escape the fall without a couple black and blue marks on my knees and right hand. I don’t always completely escape my fleshly desires and my sinful nature gets the best of me...this results in the black and blue marks of consequences for my actions. And those black and blue marks don’t go away right away! Sometimes it takes a long time to heal and every time you look at those marks, you are reminded of how you fell. We need to be reminded sometimes so we can learn and grow in our walk with Christ. Our God is so gracious and merciful! We can come to Him, black and blue, and in His humble kindness, He listens to a sinners heart and chooses to forgive them. He listens to our cries and comforts us, bringing us peace. He is love!
And so I looked again at the bruise today and thought, thank you God. Thank you for allowing me to experience the fall so that I could know how much you love me. This bruise will not last forever, but for now, it’s a sweet reminder of an Awesome God.
