A friend of mine works at the zoo. She gets to feed the animals, and clean up after them, and all that sort of thing which I think sounds like great fun. The reality is probably less glamorous than I have made it in my mind. I suspect sometimes it is great fun…and other times it really isn’t all that enjoyable. Like most things.

She has made friends with an aging bear and—against the rules—shows the old girl affection and gives her special treatment. I love hearing about my friend’s encounters with the animals. It’s kind of sad, though. For all the obvious reasons by which having ‘wild animals’ living in cages is sad.

It got me thinking this morning, when I saw these words in Psalm 145:

The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time.

I was actually looking up ‘timing’, because that’s what I felt like talking about. God’s timing. Interestingly, according to my online Crosswalk search, there is not a single use of the word ‘timing;’ in the Bible. ‘Time’ has about a gazillion references, though. And this was one of them.

We talk a lot about God’s timing. It shows up in my life constantly. This past week I have pretty much been on autopilot, and God’s timing has taken over. I even lost my watch for a couple of days, and wandered in a bit of a fog, just showing up when I got there and seemingly always being in the right place at the right time.

I love the first line of that scripture where it says: ‘upholds all those who fall’. Once, a few years ago, God gave me this amazing picture of Him carrying me in the palm of His hand. And during that same season (in a very long story which I will save for another time) He told me a name in my sleep, which I had never heard. It was Amasiah (though I wasn’t sure how to spell it… I just looked it up phonetically in a half-asleep state). In Amos and 2Kings and 2Chronicles there are references to Amasiah, who volunteered his service to the Lord. His name means ‘one whom the Lord carries.’ He also fought mightily for the Lord, and God had also—during some listening prayer—given me a picture of myself as a warrior fighting for Him.

I know it’s getting a little complicated, and perhaps I shouldn’t try to cram in so many details. And I realize to you it all might sound a little crazy. But to me, everything all tied in together; I was amazed and astounded and my hope was renewed. To me, these gifts from God were lifelines.

When I was little I loved Tarzan stories. The movies…the comic books…There even used to be a weekly Tarzan show on TV. Ah yes…the good old days of television. I couldn’t wait for that jungle music to start. But the thing that scared me was the quicksand. There was always quicksand around, I’m telling you. If you were running away from a charging elephant, or a ferocious lion, or an angry native, you could bet there would be a big ol’ pit of quicksand in your path. And before you knew it, you’d be going down.

I would call out to the TV…to whoever was running… “Look out! Watch for the quicksand!”, but to no avail. They always fell in. Arms waving (didn’t they know more movement meant faster sinking?!), screaming, gurgling, it was horrible. The only thing that could save them was a large branch or a vine they could grasp onto. How my little eyes searched for that life line to get them out of the pit.

And so it is today. I still find myself falling into the pit. The pit doesn’t always look the same, but the feeling is way too familiar. The sinking. The heaviness. The helplessness.

All my struggling only makes things worse. The only thing that saves me is a lifeline from God.

And He sends them.

They come in different forms.

Sometimes it is a call from someone who just felt like she was supposed to call me. Because God put me on her heart.

Other times it is a song. An answered prayer. A moment that fell together in just the perfect way. Or a whisper to the deep of me, that moves and comforts. He gives it to me ‘at the proper time.’

Which brings me back to that sad old bear at the zoo.

That bear does not belong in that zoo. It is not her real home. She is not living the life she was meant to live.

And neither are we.

We are beautiful and pure spirits, made in the image of God. Yet here we are. In these bodies. On this earth and in this world where things are not as they should be. Not as God designed them. It is all a poor substitute for the real thing.

Someday we will be living with Him, free from the entrapments of this world in which we now live.

Until then, He takes care of us, and He instructs us, and He has not left us here alone. We look to Him, and he gives us our food at the proper time.

He sends us a lifeline when we need it. He teaches us a lesson when He needs to. He gives. He takes away. He lifts us who are bowed down.

Sometimes I am bowed down. Often it is in prayer. Or humility. Sometimes it is under a heaviness. Today I am thanking Him for providing, and I am asking Him to continue. I am also looking to Him, my eyes up, always on the watch for that lifeline.

His,

Jamie