If I Fall...

"If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble." -Ecclesiastes 4:10, NLT.

This verse has always sort of been a 'flip-over' verse for me. I'd come across it and think 'yeah, yeah, I know...help the needy, feed the hungry, what we do for the least of those we do to Him, treat others like I want to be treated, yada yada.' However, when the verse came across The Daily Bible Verse blog as the verse of the day, I started to think of it a little bit differently and had a little mini revelation.

I've always looked at this verse in terms of me being the one to help others--but really, it doesn't specify who is doing the helping and who is receiving the help. I think the point of the verse is not only that we are called to help others in the time of need, but also that we are to accept help from others when we are in need. Does that make things much more challenging for anyone else?

I'm the type of person that loves to help others, but I have a hard time accepting help myself. I put a lot of pressure on myself to be the best at everything that I try, and so it's hard to admit that I can't do something on my own and need some help. I'd much rather be the one doing the helping. It's a humbling experience to admit that you need assistance from someone else, but one I'll readily admit that I don't particularly like experiencing. Still, I think that this idea that we should be ready and eager to help others in their time of need, but to also graciously and thankfully accept help in OUR time of need supports the idea that the body of Christ (the church) functions much like the human body:

"A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it." -1 Corinthians 12: 14-18, The Message

It's interesting, right? Here, we're being told that it's OKAY if we aren't able to do everything in life. We don't have to be the brain, the fingers, the ears, the mouth, AND the heart. And when it comes to something that we can't easily do, others should be there to help with that task, and I should not be ashamed that I need that help! So, I'm going to try to remember that it isn't a bad thing to ask for or accept help when I really need it--in fact, it seems that's exactly God's plan.