So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (1Co 10:12 NIV)

So what if you see the precipice and still fall in? If you notice the trap and yet are caught? If you’re aware of the temptation and don’t side-step it anyway? The Lord wants truth, clarity and transparency to save, to sanctify and finally lead to blessed salvation. It’s not just about mind-games or some ideology. He’s not just taking us to the portal, but wants us to enter in and get right to his very heart and centre. So, who does the apostle have in mind when writing: “If you think you are standing firm…” (1Co 10:12 NIV) Who is this thinking of standing firm? Is this somebody lying down? No, obviously not. Otherwise the apostle would advise to get up. He’s addressing those, who are standing upright and who believe their good standing is something to rely on, be proud of and to trust in. There are plenty of those around. More perhaps than we would have thought. I would nearly say, all people have a tendency to take their status for granted. We should all take this as a friendly warning and test ourselves so that we may escape this threat and lurking danger. This kind of thinking is rather biased and we’re most often somewhat deluded about our own position. That is why St. Paul warns us: “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1Co 10:12 NIV) Open your eyes and look carefully. Be alert against falling darkness and the coming night. There is a blindness, which God wants to overcome and heal. This blindness parts when Jesus Christ goes by and the blind call like Bartimaeus of old: “Lord, help me that I may see!” The blindness goes, the path becomes apparent, the stumbling blocks too and all lurking dangers flee.

O Lord, you delight in humility and oppose all haughtiness. Take good care of us, that we don’t hold to highly of ourselves, but rather tend to those that are lowly and meek. Let us hold on to your hand firmly so that we don’t fall into the dangerous traps that threaten our progress. Grant us eyes that will see your light and path that we will follow your directions and guidance. Bless and keep us in the darkest night, so that your peace will encompass us so that we can walk as in the brightest sunshine enlightened by your grace and mercy, drawn closer and closer to you and your eternal salvation. Amen.

From God can nothing move me; He will not step aside But gently will reprove me And be my constant guide. He stretches out His hand in evening and in morning, My life with grace adorning wherever I may stand.

Yet even thou I suffer the world’s unpleasantness, And though the days grow rougher and bring me great distress, That day of bliss divine, which knows no end or measure, And Christ, who is my pleasure, forever shall be mine.

For thus the Father willed it, who fashioned us from clay; And His own Son fulfilled it and brought eternal day. The Spirit now has come, to us true faith has given; He leads us home to heaven. O praise the Three in One! Amen (Text: Ludwig Helmbold, 1532-98)

This is a rather free translation of Wilhelm Löhe’s devotion for Thursday after the ninth Sunday after the high holiday and festival of the Holy Trinity. It is found on Pg. 282 in Lob sei Dir ewig, o Jesu!   (Eternal Praise to you o Jesus!) edited by A. Schuster and published in the Freimund Verlag, Neuendettelsau 1949.