Help! I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!

H.G. Wells said, "If you fell down yesterday, stand up today." Those words may seem rather simple, as we all know the 'action' of 'standing up' once you have fallen down is a little more difficult than we might imagine. I have fallen more than a couple of times in my lifetime, banging up my knees or elbows, but when I was younger, I bounced back from those falls a whole lot quicker than I do in my sixth decade of life! Just because we are 'growing up in Christ' doesn't mean we won't fall, and it certainly doesn't mean a fall will result in us getting up 'easier' just because we 'know Jesus' a little better than we did in our earlier years of following him. Sometimes we just need to cry out for help to get up! It isn't a bad thing to admit we need help, although some may think it is a sign of weakness to admit it. 

If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open. (James 1:5)

Some of the reason we fall is that we aren't 'aware' of what we are doing, and we don't take the time to ask God for clarity. We just trudge ahead into the 'unknown' and then wonder why we are flat on our face in just a short time. If you have already moved ahead of Jesus, don't despair! He stands ready to help you stand when you aren't able to do it on your own, but you do need to ask for his help. There is just something about admitting we need help that breaks down some of the stubborn pride and self-sufficiency that caused us to fall in the first place. Sometimes we want 'all our options open' when we pray - like a 'blanket covering' over all the 'possible options' for how we could get out of the situation we find ourselves facing. God doesn't want us to limit him to the 'options' we can imagine as much as he wants us to trust him to reveal the 'one way up' that he has designed.

God loves to help, but we have to allow him to help. It would be far better that we never find ourselves 'falling' and 'unable to get up', but when we find ourselves in those circumstances, it is far wiser to ask for his help than it is to struggle to find our way up! We all fall. Don't be afraid to admit you need his help. He stands ready to help. Just sayin!