He upholds all who fall
The psalm on God who lifts
The psalm makes a sweeping promise about God's character: the LORD upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down. Not some who fall, but all; not the strong who stumble slightly, but those who are bowed down, bent low under their failures and burdens. God's instinct toward the falling is to uphold, and toward the bowed-down to raise up.
This is the nature of the God a fallen leader is dealing with. He is not waiting to push the falling the rest of the way down; he is reaching to uphold them. The image of being bowed down — bent over, crushed under weight — is exactly how failure feels, and to such people the promise is specifically aimed: he raises up all who are bowed down. The leader crushed under a failure can lean into this: the God he serves upholds the falling. You do not have to hold yourself up; he upholds all who fall.
“I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.”
— The LORD, through Isaiah — Isaiah 41:10 (WEB)
God’s instinct toward the falling is to uphold, and toward the bowed-down to raise up. The fallen leader does not have to hold himself up.
“The LORD upholds all who fall, and raises up all those who are bowed down.”
The psalm reveals a God who lifts the crushed rather than pushing them down. A leader formed here leans on that God instead of straining to hold himself up. The inner work is trusting God to uphold him in failure.
Lean on God to uphold you under the weight of failure rather than carrying it alone. Point the crushed among you to the God who raises the bowed-down. Lead from being upheld, not from self-supported strain.
Leaders strain to hold themselves up under failure, missing the God who upholds all who fall. The blind spot is self-reliance where God offers to lift.
Where you are bowed down by failure, this week stop straining to hold yourself up and lean on the God who upholds all who fall.
The image of being bowed down — bent over, crushed under weight — is exactly how failure feels. And to such people the promise is aimed: he raises up all who are bowed down.
Are you trying to hold yourself up under the weight of failure, or leaning on the God who upholds all who fall?