Help ! I'm going to fall...

Last week I was with some friends and we were walking through some fields. All was going well until… a style came up and I had to clamber over whilst battling with the feeling of ‘Help, I am going to fall’. I am a very clumsy person and although I didn’t fall on this occasion it would not have been that big a surprise if I had. In fact when I was a child my Mum used to say that I could fall over air ! Bizarrely, I have never broken a bone. I have however been covered in bruises from bumping into things and it is such a way of life for me that I often can’t even remember what I’ve walked into.

Our readings this morning have reminded me of that ‘Help, I am going to fall’ moment. In the reading from 1 Kings we heard of Elijah being scared as he was being hunted down. His faith remained strong but He needed reassurance from God that all would be well. For the disciples they must have thought that they were going to fall into the water as they went through a storm but no they were safe but then Peter had his moment when he actually did fall.

Those two readings speak of faith. A faith that knows that even when we feel like we are going to fall in our journey faith, God is still there to pick us up.

An atheist was spending a quiet day fishing when suddenly his boat was attacked by the Loch Ness monster. In one easy flip, the monster tossed him and his boat high into the air. Then it opened its mouth to swallow both.
As the man sailed head over heels, he cried out, "Oh God! Help me!"
At once, the ferocious attack scene froze in place, and as the atheist hung in midair, a booming voice came down from the clouds. "I thought you didn't believe in me!"
"Come on, God, give me a break!" the man pleaded. "Two minutes ago I didn't believe in the Loch Ness monster either!"

In our gospel reading this morning we heard of the disciples going through a very difficult time when they must have felt scared.  They went through a storm, the fear of seeing a ghost walking towards them who turned out to be Jesus and so to top it all off Peter in his bravery reached out to Jesus and moved from having enough faith to walk on water to realise what he was doing and start to lose faith. He had that help I am going to fall experience and he literally did.

I think that this reading can describe our walk of faith perfectly. We can feel very sure in our faith, quite confident until …. It might be tested. The disciples had been in a storm before and Jesus had been with them and calmed the storm but now they must have felt all alone. Sometimes we can feel that way as if God has abandoned us even when we know deep down that He has not.

Or maybe we can be confident in our faith but a little too frightened to offer everything to Jesus as we would like to keep some things to ourselves and so we end up stumbling in faith and ending up in a big mess.

Peter experienced faith as He started out towards Jesus but then he lost his confidence, he lost his faith. This is a bit like Elijah in the reading we heard from 1 Kings. In this reading Elijah the prophet who had gone about doing God’s work with confidence and faith that he was doing the right thing suddenly panicked. His life was under threat because he had insulted the queen and others. People had been unhappy by the challenge that he had offered and so were seeking the best way out - Get rid of Elijah.

To be honest Elijah may have had a right to be a bit cross with God, after all God had given him a message to preach, he had done this and now his life was under threat. So he had run away in an attempt to hide. You would think that a prophet would know that God is all seeing and all-knowing and you can’t play hide and seek with Him!

God spoke to Elijah and promised to come to him. Elijah waited and saw many spectacular things but God was actually in the quiet.

So, Peter and Elijah had both gone to God, reached out to Him but had then lost their confidence it was as if they suddenly thought ‘Help, I am going to fall’.

We can all feel as if we are going to fall in our walk of faith. We can feel as if God has abandoned us, but we can know that God will not let us fall.

There is a story of Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsy who due to their families’decision to hide Jews in WWII ended up in Auschwitz, on one day whilst Betsy was really ill, Corrie questioned her and despaired of God. Betsy turned and said, ‘Remember that there is no pit that is so deep that God’s love isn’t even deeper still. '

Betsy couldn’t necessarily see how God could stop her from falling but she had faith that He could. God’s love for us is even deeper than we can ever imagine.

The life of faith is not easy but we can know that we are on a journey where God is with us, and will never leave us.

Yes, the life of faith is not easy, but it is the best way to be. We shouldn’t just want to muddle along nicely, we should be ready to ask God for more. So that we can experience more of Him, more of His love in our lives. Then we can know confidence, then we can know that even in times when our faith dips and peaks God is still with us. He never leaves us, He is always there and all we need to do is turn to Him. We may feel like we are going to drown in the water like Peter, but just like He was for Peter God is always there to pick us up and help us on our way.

May we be ready to offer all that we have and are to God knowing that His love is so amazing it can cover all our needs and desires.

And now, to Him who is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before Him; to the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN