How Close To The Edge?

Exodus 19:12–13.

And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death.

When My Foot Slipped

There is a property in town that I maintain through my lawn care business. At this property there is a ditch. The ditch encompasses the northern side of the property, and requires string trimming once a month. Today, while servicing it, I reached over and held my string trimmer out as far as I could with my right hand in order to trim the weeds in the center of the ditch. This particular ditch is sloped and has a drop off, much akin to a dry creek. As I was reached over trimming the center, my feet began to slide.

A few years ago I hiked a mountain in Alaska. It was a steady incline in the beginning, but as I got out of the tree line, the ground began to change to loose shale. For the last thousand feet, I had to nearly crawl up on my hands and knees in order to scale to the top. There was a large section of snow, and I had to stomp out a makeshift staircase until I could get to the peak. Having arrived, I sat down and took in the view of the valley. To my right was the Gulf of Alaska. To my direct center was a quaint little Alaska town, all two miles of it. To my left was the last frontier. After catching my breath, basking in the sun, and soaking in the sights, I began to make my way down. I took one step on my makeshift staircase, and my feet slipped. I fell on my back and began to slide down the mountain. Personally, it was one of the scariest moments of my life. I took one small step, and that propelled me towards a rapid descent. What took me a second, lasted a minute, and recalled a lifetime. After a minute of sliding, I eventually tumbled onto the shale and landed right before the edge of a cliff.

In that moment, in what some could call humorous, I nearly tumbled to my demise. I came within feet of the precipice, and it was all due to one small step. But was it really one small step? Did I need to stretch myself out as far as I did string trimming so I did not have to walk to the other side? In reality, it is never one small step. It is a gradual encroachment, a permissiveness, not through conspicuous acquiescence, but rather inconspicuous laxity. How often are we the arbiters of our own distress? Time and time again, we push the envelope of His mercy, and pray against His justice.

“Lord. just let me get a little closer.”

“Lord, just let me stay a little longer.”

Bounds Around The Mountain

The mercies of God are new every morning, but is that a license to test them every morning? Are we truly living in grace, or are we living in abject poverty of grace? The question isn’t whether or not His grace will sustain us, but rather how long will we allow it to sustain us? The problem with pushing the boundary of His mercies, is that we are as blind men walking towards the edge. We stray further and further from His voice, but the further we stray, the closer to the edge we come. What is the attitude behind testing the boundary? Do we truly love God, or do we want His benefits without His relationship? 

Just as I stretched further and further over the ditch and my foot slipped, just as my foot slipped and I slid down the mountaintop, we are living our spiritual lives on borrowed time, and it is only a matter of a few more steps until we compel ourselves over the precipice of His mercy and into the depths of His judgement.

The Boundary is Grace

What is considered the border of Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19? There was a command by God not to even touch the border of the mount. Who determines the border? Why are we so obsessed with how close we can get to the edge and get away with it? Why do we continue to tempt God with our determination to get as close to the world, and to sin, without falling in? The answer is simple: we are not seeking a relationship with Him.

In a marriage, there are boundaries between the husband and wife. Does a husband truly love his wife if he continues to test those boundaries? What kind of marriage is it when a husband prods the boundary day after day to see what he can get away with? It is a sham of a marriage. A husband who loves his wife will respect her, even if he doesn’t quite understand or even agree with her boundaries.

The same can be said of our walk with the Lord. There are boundaries that the Lord establishes for us, and instead of seeing how close to the edge we can get, let us strive to be as near to His voice and His presence as possible.