“for through a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again,
but the wicked are brought down by calamity.
Do not gloat when your enemy falls;
when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice.”
- Proverbs 24:16,17 NIV
They say a cat has 9 lives (lucky dog!)
One thing about life that I’m absolutely sure of is this… you’re going to fall flat on your face more than a few times.
That’s a given! No ifs, ands or buts - you’re going face-down to kiss the concrete with your lips, nose and forehead - and it will most likely happen more than once.
The Bible is all about Good News.
So, here’s the Good News - the righteous will be able to get back up and go again. That’s not to say they won’t feel like they’re free-falling into the abyss of self-pity, self-loathing and self-destruction. No, that’s not guaranteed! What the Word says is that a righteous man will get back up again… eventually!
So, here’s the tempered news - there’s no guarantee as to how long it will take to get back up again. Is it immediate? maybe. Could it take a few weeks? possibly. Years? entirely possible.
Let’s look at Job - my all-time favorite righteous man to get smacked down - and consider a worst-case scenario:
- You go from wealthy to broke almost overnight
- Your children are killed
- Your wife abandons you
- Your friends hang around just enough to make you feel worse
- You’ve done absolutely nothing wrong
Then - Job gets up again.
By the grace of God, you can too. Proverbs 24:16 is the official word on getting up again. The righteous can lean on this scripture when everything else is crumbling around you.
You will get up again.
