Proverbs 24:16 “A righteous person may fall seven times, but he gets up again.”We all get discouraged at times. We all miss the mark. We all slip and fall in our life’s journey. This verse in Proverbs reminds us that the fall is not the real issue – it’s whether we get up again and carry on. This verse encourages us to persevere in the face of adversity.
I don’t know if you feel the same way, but that verse brings me some measure of solace. The person who is shown to be virtuous in this text is the one who falls. Even those who are righteous can stumble. We are all human beings. And not only does this virtuous person fall, but it appears to be a pattern that occurs seven times in a row! In spite of everything, he continues to get back up again! Quite the example of tenacity!
In what ways are you resilient? Is your landing similar to that of a basketball or a bowling ball when you tumble? In the New Living Translation of Ecclesiastes 7:20, the Bible states that “not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.” When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans and declared, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Romans 3:23). He may have had this in mind when he made this statement.
So, the question isn’t if you will fall at times; the question is when you fall, what then? Your fall doesn’t have to be fatal! If you’re still occupying space and taking in oxygen, there is hope! There is no sin too great for God’s grace.
How does a righteous man get up when he’s fallen? By grace! Grace lifts us from our fallen state and offers us a place beside Christ to sit in heavenly realms! Grace gives us what we don’t deserve – forgiveness and favour! And grace is unlimited! That’s great news for those of us who’ve blown it multiple times!
This doesn’t mean that grace is a license to sin. Rather, grace offers comeback capacity – the resilience to bounce back, to learn from our mistakes, and the power and desire to do God’s will. When you’re so filled with guilt you can’t even lift your head, grace restores your dignity and worth! David understood that, when feeling a failure as a father and on the run from his own son, he prayed in Psalm 3:3, “But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.”
What love! What mercy! God, in His matchless grace, stoops down to lift us up when we’ve fallen – even if it was our own fault! David experienced that grace! He said, “The sacrifice God wants is a broken spirit. God, you will not reject a heart that is broken and sorry for sin.” (Psalm 51:17)
It’s possible that you are a product of your past, but that doesn’t mean you have to be controlled by it! Jesus Christ came to the world in order to rescue the captive! When the godly are brought down, there is hope.
What is it that the book of Proverbs instructs us to do after we have fallen? To get up! It is time to stop living in the past and instead learn from it. Moving forward with God into the magnificent future that He has in store for you is the next step. So, get up and move on … trusting God to lead you each day.