Having said that, I must say there is value in getting knocked down to the floor every now and again...because then you're forced to make a choice. To stay there or to pick yourself up. Depending on how many times you get knocked down, it may be that the time you spend on the floor tends to feel like it drags on and on. The choice you make and how long it takes you to make it gives a solemn indication of where you are spiritually.
King David speaks from the floor in a lot of places in Psalms. I love this guy. When you've been blindsided by evil or even a fellow Christian brother or sister, circumstances of life...whatever, and you get knocked down...boy David knows where you're at.
Check it out:
"My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery; my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and You have brought me into the dust of death." Psalm 22:15
"Have mercy and be gracious unto me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; with grief my eye is weakened, also my inner self and my body. For my life is spent with sorrow and my years with sighing; my strength has failed... I am forgotten like a dead man, and out of mind; like a broken vessel am I." Psalm 31:9-10, 12
"From the end of the earth will I cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed and fainting; lead me to the rock that is higher than I." Psalm 61:2
"I am weary with my groaning; all night I soak my pillow with tears, I drench my couch with my weeping. My eye grows dim because of grief; it grows old because of all my enemies." Psalm 6:6-7
Here's the thing, though, with King David. He got knocked down quite a bit, but he always made the choice not to stay down there too long. In some of the very Psalms mentioned above, by the time you read to the end of the Psalm you will find a little word in his song..."but" or "yet" or "though." And, from there his song becomes one of praise and worship. Now, I wonder if he's singing from his view on the floor. Perhaps so. Sometimes when knocked down numerous times by the same person or circumstance, it gets harder and harder to get up. But, I like to think that by the time David got to that "but or "yet" in his song, he had gained the courage and strength to get up and was standing by the end of his song.
Now the alternative is to stay down there. There are times when you have no strength. Your spirit is beaten to a pulp, and you are a crumpled heap on the floor with no power except to weep and cry out to God. Your Psalm has no "but" or "though." It is just a small whisper for mercy and strength.
When you can't get up in these circumstances, I know it seems like you are crying out into darkness. You "feel" no one beside you, and the view above is all black.
The decision to stay on the floor can blacken your heart with bitterness. It descends upon you like a slow, thick fog, and you find that eventually you can't shift your focus to the things above anymore. Your mind runs in a vicious cycle of anger, bitterness and unforgiveness.
Bitterness can destroy your spirit in no time flat. Beware!
Get up! Get up, I say, get up! No matter how many times you are knocked down, I pray you have the strength to get up! I have seen the view from the floor countless times in the last 1.5 years. That's a long time to be constantly knocked down and given the choice to get back up again. Some times, I couldn't get up as fast as I would have liked. And, I confess, recently I found myself in that position wallowing in a great heap of hate and bitterness. Thankfully my "but" eventually came through praise/worship at church and through God's Word. And I "got up" for the umpteenth time, found my circle of peace, and my heart became full of forgiveness, mercy and love.
(Sidebar: Many of you know that for the last 4-5 years, I've really had a desire in my heart to learn to "dance in the rain." It has bothered me that when Christians have struggles or go through a season of suffering, that they often are miserable, complaining and questioning God or blaming others for their circumstances. There is no praise or worship on their lips or humbleness in their hearts.)
I find it very interesting that the Lord is answering my prayer to learn to "dance in the rain" through this current season of suffering. It is the hardest thing I've ever had to learn how to do. I am a living testimony to what praise and worship can do for your soul specifically when you're looking up from the floor. When you are lying there and all you feel is hurt, abused and misunderstood...praise. Praise. Praise. Praise. Your heart may not feel it, but make your lips speak it. And the bitterness melts away and supernatural strength fills your being so you can get up...one more time!
It's funny, but in the last year and a half, I have found that I can get up, again and again, one more time. It's not to say that I've become non-human and no longer feel the hurt and pain. I'm not even sure I've forgiven 100% yet. But, I am stronger. I can get up quicker and with no bitterness. Because, you see, no one can be against me when God is for me. I am learning to rejoice in my suffering. Really. God obviously feels I am worthy of this suffering. Think about that for a minute! That brings me back to the floor, but on my knees in humbleness and awe. "Suffering." That is a topic for another blog.
(Sidebar: I have to say that all the times I've found myself on the floor in these days, I have had several, what Joyce Landorf calls, "Balcony People" cheering me on from up above. When I haven't had the faith to get up...I've hung onto your's. You know who you are...thank you, I love you.)
My story is not yet over. And, I'm sure I will be seeing the view from the floor yet again. "But I will sing of Your mighty strength and power; yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy and loving-kindness in the morning; for You have been to me a defense and a refuge in the day of my distress." (Psalm 59:16)
