WHY YOU CAN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN!
For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity. Prov. 24:16, N.I.V.
He fell while going into the last turn of the race. In a moment he was up again and running. Though he didn't finish first, he won the hearts of the spectators.
What gives some people the pluck to get up and keep going after misfortune strikes, while others tend to "curl up and die"? May I suggest that self-worth has a lot to do with it? No doubt, being able to keep things in perspective helps, too. In other words, having a good sense of who you are and where you are going can provide you with an inner dignity and strength with which to meet difficulty and failure.
Falling in one race, however, is different from falling in seven races in a row. Repeated or multiple troubles have the potential of totally stripping you of any reserves of strength. And those who might have cheered you on during the first fall, and maybe even the second and third, tend to grow silent if trouble persists. Like Job's friends, they begin to wonder about you.
Our verse today speaks of a righteous man--a man who "has it together with God"--falling seven times. Do we need to analyze his circumstances in order to appreciate the awful tragedy of one of God's own facing failure after failure? What must his fellow church members think? What must he think! What enables him to get up again and again and again! When all his own sense of self-worth has been dashed to pieces and his potential achievement seems thwarted, what is left that causes him to get up once more?
Only our understanding of the Father and the Father's perspectives can enable us to get up again after falling "seven" times. God is not playing word games when He sees "uninterrupted victories" where we see only "failure." He counts our recovery of more value than any temporary loss of footing. Only when we refuse to be taught by an experience are we lessened by it.
Knowing that God is completely committed to restoring us to wholeness, we may confidently--under any circumstance--trust that He continues to cheer us on though everyone else has departed. He knows what we may become, regardless of how many failures we might experience in the process.
For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity. Prov. 24:16, N.I.V.
He fell while going into the last turn of the race. In a moment he was up again and running. Though he didn't finish first, he won the hearts of the spectators.
What gives some people the pluck to get up and keep going after misfortune strikes, while others tend to "curl up and die"? May I suggest that self-worth has a lot to do with it? No doubt, being able to keep things in perspective helps, too. In other words, having a good sense of who you are and where you are going can provide you with an inner dignity and strength with which to meet difficulty and failure.
Falling in one race, however, is different from falling in seven races in a row. Repeated or multiple troubles have the potential of totally stripping you of any reserves of strength. And those who might have cheered you on during the first fall, and maybe even the second and third, tend to grow silent if trouble persists. Like Job's friends, they begin to wonder about you.
Our verse today speaks of a righteous man--a man who "has it together with God"--falling seven times. Do we need to analyze his circumstances in order to appreciate the awful tragedy of one of God's own facing failure after failure? What must his fellow church members think? What must he think! What enables him to get up again and again and again! When all his own sense of self-worth has been dashed to pieces and his potential achievement seems thwarted, what is left that causes him to get up once more?
Only our understanding of the Father and the Father's perspectives can enable us to get up again after falling "seven" times. God is not playing word games when He sees "uninterrupted victories" where we see only "failure." He counts our recovery of more value than any temporary loss of footing. Only when we refuse to be taught by an experience are we lessened by it.
Knowing that God is completely committed to restoring us to wholeness, we may confidently--under any circumstance--trust that He continues to cheer us on though everyone else has departed. He knows what we may become, regardless of how many failures we might experience in the process.
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