Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Have you been in a store and seen a parent holding the hand of their little child? I love that visual. It's such a moment of intimacy between the parent and the child, and it's just so cute to see them walking together. Then you have those moments where you see the child about to run out into the road, and the parent quickly runs up and grabs their hand and pulls them back, and continues to hold their hand as they go. Protection comes with holding their hand. That's where we find ourselves in our Verse of the Day today in Psalm chapter 37 verse 24.
Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand.
If we're wondering what the context is around the part that says Though they stumble, the verse that it's talking about is referenced in the verse prior to that, in verse 23. It says, The Lord directs the steps of the godly, and that's who it's referring to in this passage. Though the godly stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.
The Beauty of God's Protection
I love the visual that we have of the parent and child holding hands together, in both the intimacy and the protection. Imagine, and I'm sure you've seen it—where a parent has both hands on their cell phone and they're texting, and you look at this child and they're running around and doing all these different things. It's like, oh, watch! You're cautious of this child, meanwhile the parent's distracted, or they have a bag in one hand, coffee in another hand, a piece of toast in another, and they're trying to manage and navigate everything all while they're trying to herd the children. Those things happen.
The beauty of the context of this verse is that the God of the universe, the God who causes everything to function and oversees everything that's going on, cares about having a hand to hold yours today. Let that sink in for a minute.
When We Want to Wiggle Free
Think about when you see a child holding the hand of a parent and they become distracted—they see a toy, they see another child, or they see a puppy—and they want to wiggle free from the parent's hand and go run after it. We can be so similar to that, can't we? Where we feel like instead of it being this intimacy or this protection, we look at having to hold God's hand as a restriction to all the distractions that we want to participate in.
That's why it refers to the godly person in this context, because those that desire to be godly care more about the intimacy they have with God and knowing that when they hold God's hand, He cares about protecting them. He cares about walking with us and navigating through what we're going through.
I know myself, and sometimes I can find myself in a place where I think, oh, I got off track at some point, and I have to confess, I have to get back to where I need to be. I realize, oh, I let go of His hand. If only I would have just held onto His hand and made the intimacy with Him the number one priority in my life, knowing that He would have protect me if I held His hand. He's so good at that.
Choosing What Matters Most
It comes down to: do I care more about being godly and not following all the distractions? Or am I more interested in the distractions around me and pursuing those things?
I would encourage you to take some time and ask yourself what's distracting you from taking the time to actually maintain holding God's hand? Maintain that intimacy with Him. That that's the number one priority over all the distractions that the world has to offer.
God will protect us even when we fall. That's why I love the mental picture of a parent when the child starts to fall, when they lift them up by the hand and those little feet come up off the ground. I have that visual of God—as we fall and God lifts us by our hand and we know that we're safe and protected.
We have to choose today. Do we want to maintain holding His hand, even though it may feel restrictive and keep us from following all the distractions? We want to be godly, we want that intimacy with Him, and we know that He will protect us as we go.
I would encourage you to take time to get with Him. Hold His hand tightly and He will guide you, lead you, and protect you today.