Most of us want to hit the ceiling, but we aren’t always as thankful for the floor. We mostly want to ascend the heights of the Lord, to have the thrills of heaven and the visions He gives, from time to time. But perhaps we should be more thankful for the floors He provides. That’s how I am now. I’m seeing how I need to be thankful for how the Lord provides the floors and often even strengthens them and raises them.

Tonight I had friends to pray with. I wasn’t just alone in my room, going through my battles of the day alone. I know, lots of people do that and I’ve certainly had times like that. But presently He has given me a good and solid discipleship couple here, who I can pray with, talk with, fellowship with and just be in the Lord with.

All the lonely people, where do they all belong? There certainly is a time to get alone with the Lord and it’s a known fact that many of God’s saints had years where they were often alone with only the Lord as their companion and friend. But then, “The Lord sets the solitary in families”.  (Psalm 68:6)

One of the first things God ever said was, “It is not good for man to be alone.”  (Genesis 2:18) And when Jesus described the final days before His return, one of the characteristics of those times, Jesus said, was “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold.”  (Matthew 24:12) What an apt and brief synopsis of our present modern world.

But for those of us in the Lord, He often engineers ways for His sheep to find other sheep, for them to find the fellowship, warmth and camaraderie of fellow believers. There’s just something about it. We’re just made for this, being together, bouncing things off of each other, being in community, hanging out with friends and our family, if nothing else our spiritual family.

Believe me, I know so many really don’t have this. So, so many are alone, and just that experience can contribute to mental anxiety, depression, negative thoughts and premature old age, not to mention succumbing to drug or alcohol addiction and even suicidal thoughts. And so often it’s because someone is a sheep of God who is separated from the flock.

What a wonderful verses that is, “Underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deuteronomy 33:27) If we will receive it and recognize it, the Lord doesn’t just have our backs but He’s got our floors. “Whosoever shall fall on this stone...”. (Matthew 21:44) The Lord talked about building our house on a rock. We’ve got good floors because we’ve got a good foundation, which is actually built upon a Rock, the Lord Himself.

The problem of course is that we rather easily get our eyes off of this. Like Peter, we start looking at the waves, start looking at ourselves, our present conditions, anything actually as long as it doesn’t involve our remembering the foundations of our faith and the multitude of promises that the Lord has made, to “be with us always, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20)

So if you aren’t exactly hitting the ceiling right now, maybe at least you can be thankful for your floor. Or the Lord’s floor that He keeps under us, all the things that don’t happen to us each day because of His protection. The accidents that don’t happen, the sicknesses we don’t experience, the overall good fortune that is almost always a constant of our lives.

“Mark! What are you talking about!?! Mark, I’m sick, my kids turned against me and the Lord! I don’t have almost any friends! I’m struggling to pay my bills!!”

Yep, that does happen to most of us, at times. But here’s a verse that has greatly inspired me and one that I really recognized when I came to the Lord as being true, even during the horrific times before I got saved, when I was on drugs, in mental anguish and in many ways suffering the torments of hell, while just living here on earth as a college student.

Here’s that verse that I experienced during those times, even before I got saved. “The Lord will not allow us to be tempted above that we are able to bear. But will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it.” (I Corinthians 10:13)

Truly, things can get really rough, really. But for those who know the Lord, He always makes a way to escape and doesn’t let us be tempted above that we’re able to bear. He prompts us to phone someone and ask for prayer. Or even to ask if we can come to their house and visit before we go crazy. Or He speaks to our heart. Or we unexpectedly meet someone who turns out to be the Lord’s love for us.

“Been down so long, it looks like up to me”, someone once said. I’ve experienced that. Still, even there, God put a floor. “If the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3) God’s foundation doesn’t get destroyed. It’s just good to remember this and to even claim His promises like this at times. Certainly our own foundations can be destroyed, especially if we’re building and standing on foundations and floors that are not of Him.

“Underneath are the everlasting arms.” And He even does the work of helping us to somehow recognize it, to “see God” or at least His workings in our lives. Thank God for the floors; they are just as important as ceilings.