Tuesday, March 28, 2006
We were staying one time at, well, as the camp song says, "a little cabin in the woods." As soon as we got unpacked, our seven- or eight-year-old son went for an exploratory bike ride up the trail. When he returned he got going a little fast, and then he hit a patch of gravel right near the cabin. The bike spun out from under him and he hit the ground pretty hard. When he got up, there was a lot of blood around his mouth. He had broken a tooth and it had punctured his lip. We raced him to a hospital emergency room where they fixed him up with a few stitches. Now, he took the second bike ride that day. That was the tough part; especially after what had happened on the first bike ride. But his Mother and I encouraged him to get right back on his bike. We knew if he didn't, it might take him a long time to get the confidence back to ride again. Well, sure enough, the boy bounced back. In spite of his fall, he decided to ride again and he kept riding for many years after that.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Getting Right Back On Your Bike."
Today is for someone who has fallen off their bike - spiritually. You've made some spiritual mistakes, you've taken some spiritual spills, you may even be carrying some wounds from going down.
Our word for today from the Word of God, Lamentations 3:19-23 - the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah is thinking about some of his falls. He says, "I remember my affliction and my wandering; the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them and my soul is downcast within me." Well, he's struggling with some depressing feelings about his wandering, his hurt, his mistakes. Now listen: "Yet I call this to mind and therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." That would make a nice hymn, wouldn't it?
Jeremiah's feelings were focused on the falls. Maybe yours are, too. You fell, you believed the lie, you did what you thought you would never do, and you're not sure you can ever ride again the way you used to. Satan's time-tested strategy is to get you down and then to keep you there - make you think that your riding days are over. Well, after what you did, he's saying to you, "You might as well stay down. In fact, you might as well do some of those other things, too. What's the use? Right? It's over!" Wrong! God's mercies are new every new morning! His compassion for you has not failed! No failure has to last longer than a day! God is the God of forgiveness, of restoring, of new beginnings - daily new beginnings.
Jesus covered your fall when He died on the Cross. Because of that, you don't have to stay down! Proverbs 24:16 says, "Though a righteous man falls seven time, he rises again; but the wicked are brought down by calamity." God is calling you to, as it says in Philippians 3, "Forget what is behind and press on for the prize which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Yes, our son took a serious fall that day and it hurt. But he was smart enough not to let it keep him from getting right back on that bike to ride again. You may have taken a serious fall and it hurt, but you have a Savior. Will you let Him Savior you right now? It isn't over! Let Jesus pick you up, clean you up, and then get you riding again!