Why do we fall?

Anyone who knows me on any kind of intimate level knows one very important fact about me: I’m obsessed with Batman.

 

 

Yep, you read that right. Batman. The Caped Crusader himself. There was actually a point in my life when I had nothing but Batman posters on my walls; my wifi name was Batcave; I could nearly word-for-word quote the entire Dark Knight trilogy.

 

Since then, my borderline psychotic interest in Batman has calmed down a significant amount. But, there are some things from that geeky season of my life that have stuck with me.

 

Specifically, one quote from Batman Begins has been incredibly influential in shaping my perspective on how I should respond in moments of adversity.

 

In the opening scenes of Batman Begins we see a young Bruce Wayne (that’s Batman’s secret identity for those of you who were deprived of the awesomeness of Batman as a child) playing in the greenhouse of his family’s enormous estate. Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet collapses and Bruce finds himself falling to the bottom of a decrepit, grimy well. 

 

Before long, though, Bruce’s father comes to the rescue. Back in the safety of the mansion, Bruce’s father looks his son in the eye and says, “Why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up.”

 

Bruce lived his entire life based on this proverbial advice from his dad. We know this because the storytellers keep reminding us by flashing back to this scene throughout the series. This idea of falling and picking yourself back up shaped who Bruce Wayne believed he was and—in turn—determined who he wanted to be as the Batman. This quote ultimately drives the entire story arc for The Dark Knight trilogy. 

 

“Why do we fall?” is a rhetorical question that I have asked myself countless times because of the importance of this scene.

 

Falling in a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual sense is an inevitable part of life; society tells us that in order to get back up we must reach deep within ourselves and pull out the will and strength to move on and fight. This worldview actually carries a lot of weight and is extremely successful for most people. I will be the first to admit that most of my greatest victories in life have come after devastating defeats; the result of me finding a resilience within myself that I had never known existed. 

 

But, what if this isn’t the best way—the easiest way—the healthiest way to respond to the great falls of our lives?

 

Let’s leave the streets of Gotham for a moment. Let me take you back a few years. About 3000 years back, in fact. To Jerusalem. On the rooftop of the king of Israel’s palace.  

 

We are in the middle of 2 Samuel 11. Here we find David. David the king. David the warrior. David the ancestor of Jesus. David the man after God’s own heart. 

 

David is about to take one of the greatest falls of his life. A fall that would end up being recorded in the annals of history. 

 

In an act completely unexpected from a man of his reputation, King David commits adultery with the wife of one of his closest friends. Furthermore, he has this friend sent to the front lines of the army in an obvious attempt to have him killed in battle. 

 

David falls. Hard.

 

But, pay close attention here. The part of the story we are about to examine has nothing to do with the details of the fall itself. Instead, we are interested in David’s response to his fall. 

 

For this, we need to move into the Psalms. Specifically, Psalm 51. 

 

This Psalm is written by David. A David who has just been confronted by the prophet Nathan after his adultery. A David who is now faced with a major choice. 

 

The man can either retreat into his shame and guilt and brokenness as he tries to rebuild himself and pick himself back up; or, he can choose to do something else entirely. 

 

Here, David shows what it truly means to be after God’s own heart.

 

David has a very unique answer to the question “Why do we fall?” 

 

In Psalm 51 we see a King David who is crushed in spirit. But, we see this King David cry out to God for mercy (v. 1). We see this King David beg God to “create in [him] a clean heart” and to renew his broken spirit (v. 10). We see this King David cling to the presence of God (v. 11). 

 

We see this King David run into the arms of his Father. 

 

If we step back into that well with the young Bruce Wayne we can see something strikingly similar to our King David. Although Bruce’s father told him that he fell so that he could learn to pick himself back up, it is actually the father himself who picked the son up. The boy in the bottom of the well relied totally on the strength and love of his father to save him. He knew this was the only way to escape the hole he was in. 

 

I can’t tell you how many times I have fallen and then tried to climb out of that hole only to get near the top and fall again. 

 

Time after time I have found myself trying to rely solely on my own determination and willpower to get out of my shame and guilt; time after time I have fallen even further than before. 

 

But, recently I’ve discovered the truth that David knew 3000 years ago: the answer to the question “Why do we fall?” 

 

It’s not so that we can discover how much perseverance and fight we have within us. It’s not so that we can look within ourselves and dig deep and see what kind of guts we have. It’s not so that we can learn to pick ourselves back up. 

 

No.

 

We fall so that we can fully understand our total dependence on our heavenly Father. So that His name and his renown will be made the desire of our hearts (Isa. 26:8). So that we would have no other choice than to cry out “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15). So that we would allow ourselves to be caught in the current of Jesus‘ never-ending flood of love.