Careful on the Downs
So I’d reached the highest point of my trail run, and I thought it would be easy from there on out. I looked at the long winding trail going down the mountain back towards the farm, and I thought to myself “this is great, I can really go for it from here”.
And off I went, bounding down the trail with much excitement… and I had hardly gone far at all when I lost my footing.
It was actually quite a tricky section – the little rocks were loose and it was easy to slip or to slide if you weren’t careful. And particularly for me – I sprained my ankle earlier in the year, and it’s not quite fully recovered yet, so I was a bit wobbly.
Stay Humble, Vigilant
Thankfully I managed to keep myself upright and not bite the dust, but man I got quite the scare. And I said to myself “woah, take it easy! Not too fast.”
There’s such a thing in life as overconfidence. Especially when things are going well, we can have the tendency to get careless and try to move too fast. That’s what I did up there, I got a little careless.
And this was a reminder to me to not get too careless on the downhills of life. When things are easy and smooth, be careful.
In fact, this reminds me of what Paul said to the early Christians – in 1 Corinthians 10:12 we read this: “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” That’s powerful. If you think you are doing great, be careful. That’s when you are most vulnerable to a little slippery slope, or another rock on your path.
The enemy loves to see us get ahead of ourselves, and get over-confident, because then it’s easy enough for him to just have his way with us. Instead, we must be careful and considerate.
Celebrate, Caution, Continue
Perhaps this is why God often said things like this to the Israelites in the Old Testament: “You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 18:4 NIV11). Or this: “Be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live.” (Deuteronomy 4:9 NIV11)
Friends, if things are going well for you, if you’re on a nice easy downward slope – celebrate that and thank God for it. But be careful! Don’t go too fast! Watch that you don’t get complacent and end up slipping and falling, like I almost did in the hills of the Karoo.
God is willing to help you and keep you from falling, if you will carefully follow in His ways.
