LEARNING DAILY

 

Proverbs 24:16, For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.

 

I want to be clear about something I have written often in the blog. As human beings, Christians do things that get them into trouble. Things are often said that we wish could be taken back. We fall to temptations that are all around us because we are not as strong as we should be; therefore, we give in instead of running away from the temptation. We let our minds wander instead of focusing on righteousness. You know what I mean! The verse above is about God’s faithfulness to those who love Him with all their heart, all their strength, with all of their mind. It is a promise to the righteous – those who love God and are seeking to follow Him as He desires.

 

 Verse 15, is a warning to those who lie in wait, those who would want to do harm to God’s people. God is going to defend His people. Too many teach or preach that an easy life will come if one just gives their life to Jesus. No! That is not what happens. Becoming a Christian through Jesus Christ does not promise of an easy, comfortable life. We live in a world that is fallen, full of sin. At the same time, the world has been saved, redeemed by the death and resurrection of Christ.

 

“When adversity, trials, and setbacks occur in the lives of the righteous, they will bounce back because God’s grace lifts them up. God does not guarantee us trouble-free lives, but He does promise to sustain us no matter what happens” (notes from the LSSB). We are promised we will rise when we fall due to our human weakness. The Father allows trials in our life because we grow closer to Him as we go through them. The emphasis is not on man’s ability to fall but in God’s ability to provide for His people when they do. The pastor of Community Bible Church said, “The same grace that saved you, is the same grace that keeps you!”

 

I want to go back to the words “righteous man” because this might help understand this. The righteous man is one who knows that he is unrighteous on His own and believes that God’s righteousness has been credited to him. That means that when the righteous fall, they will rise out of it because of God’s grace. This can be seen over and over in the life of the righteous. They shall “fall seven times and rise again”. No matter how many times they fall, the righteous get back up because of God’s grace and love for them.

 

This is not the way for the wicked.

 

This verse in Proverbs gives me great hope. I am far from perfect and I find comfort in knowing that God’s grace is greater than any thing that comes against me. When I mess up, I confess what has been done, ask for His forgiveness and He picks me up with His grace and love.

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.  I have added Jimmy Swaggart’s Expositor’s Study Bible to be referred to from now on as JSESB.