Though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
This is such an encouraging and comforting passage as we journey through life walking with the Lord. Indeed, the whole psalm is a wonderful guide for our lives. We can trust the Lord who upholds the righteous. I can relate these verses more from a time when I fell while on a walk. I was taking for granted the simple steps I had walked many times before when my shoe caught the edge of the pavement and down I went. My hand automatically went out to protect my head from injury, but I broke a bone in my hand. I see how God protected me in this. He both kept me from a more severe injury and set me on a journey of dependence on Him and others since I couldn’t do much without the use of my dominant hand. This experience deepened my relationship with Him and my appreciation for the body of Christ. True to His Word, one small stumble changed my plans. “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” Though we have been eternally saved by grace through faith in Christ, and though we have been eternally freed from slavery to sin and severed from the old sin nature, attacks from without and failures from within can cause every one of us to stumble and fall.Afflictions, faults, failings, and grievous sins can cause us to stumble and sin, and king David is one such example. But the believer who, like David, is a man after God’s own heart, a man who trusts the Word of the Lord, will not be overwhelmed even when he does fall into sin because the Lord has promised to hold his hand. When we have been eternally saved by grace through faith, our steps are ordered and established by God our Savior Who is our heavenly intercessor. And though there are times when we will fall into sin, our heavenly Redeemer has promised that we will not be overwhelmed (by the sin we commit, nor the grief that may follow), for He has promised to hold us steady and to order our steps. Our Heavenly Father takes pleasure in each of His children, and is intimately concerned and involved in each of our lives: “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Let us delight ourselves in the Lord, trust Him implicitly, and commit our ways to Him entirely, for our steps are established by Him and though we may stumble, we will not be overwhelmed for the Lord our God is with us and He has promised to hold our right hand.
Spiritual Steve 