Lord, Prop Me Up On My Leaning Side

Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

While traveling on the streets of Jackson I seen an old house with something unusual activities happening around it. The house was near dilapidated probably from being in existence for some time.

Being as curious, ok being nosy, I decided to stop because it grabbed my attention. I looked inside and I notice that the paint was all but completely worn off of the walls. Grass and weeds had grown up all around it. But the thing that stood out to me was the props that stood against the house.

This house was about to fall over. It was leaning toward demolition. But somebody had the idea of propping the house up. But what I notice is that even though the house was worn and weather beating, although the house had some issues, this house had been through some trails and tribulation, I notice that the house was still standing. Those props and the support beams were there holding up this old house, keeping it from falling.

I didn’t think it would be safe to spend the night there, and I would not recommend anyone even step a foot inside.

But somebody had the mind to place some support up believing and hoping that it would hold it up a little longer.

I was thinking that maybe the other sides of the house was in probably in good shape, but the fact is the other side of the house was just as bad. The other side had some issues and some problems that caused it to lean forward. To my surprise the house had props all around it to keep it sturdy.

And I know that sometimes we feel strong and secure in the Lord, knowing that we are built on a solid foundation; and it doesn’t matter what winds that might blow our way, we believe that with this solid foundation, we can stand against the storms.

But then over a period of time the storms that do come, and the winds that do blow, bring about some difficult times. The brightness seems to fade, and what happen is we begin to lean.

We don’t really intend to lean, we are sure that our foundation is secure, but when the storms come, when temptations comes against us from all directions, when the pressures of life begin to press against us, sometimes we will lean. And if we don’t do something about it, the storms of this life will cause us to fall.

But I have some good news this morning and that is when you have a foundation like God, we can know with a surety that that we are standing on a solid foundation. And when we find ourselves leaning, inclined, slanting and sloping, we have a God who will be our support beam, and He will prop us up on every leaning side so we don’t fall.

From looking at the Word of God we know that King David wasn’t always a strong and courageous. He didn’t always stand tall and robust and strong. When temptation knocked at his door, he found himself leaning. When trouble showed up in his vicinity, his locale, or in his life David began to lean. When adversity showed up he was leaning, when persecution made him drop his head David started leaning.    

But the important thing that David knew to do is found in Psalm 57:1 when the bible says then also He cried out to God; “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities has overpast.” David found himself with adversity coming from the four corners of the earth. In fact David shares his experiences, he said in psalm 37 and 25 “I was young and now I am old.” But I never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread.

Now these are not the words of a novice. David is no newcomer. He is an experienced man. David has seen the fullness of life. He has tasted the bitter and the sweet. He has experienced both pleasures and pains. In fact, David can provide an expert testimony concerning the faithfulness of God. Through everything that he has faced, whether good or bad, God had never forsaken him.

The word Forsake in the Hebrew sense means to abandon, to leave in the lurch, to leave someone who is depending on you, and to leave someone alone with a problem.