March 24

Mar 24 - Today from Proverbs 24 we look at verse 16
"For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity."

The righteous man is not a self-righteous man. It is a person of moral integrity. It is a warning to us all that a righteous man can fall, and fall often. The reason he rises again is because of his integrity. King David was such a person. The Bible is very honest about the failures of this man after God's own heart. He was not a super-hero who never fell. But he had the integrity to humble himself in the presence of the God he loved, and then confess and genuinely repent of the sin that caused him to fall. As serious as some of the sins that David committed were, it seems he committed them only once. That is a sign of true repentance. According to the Biblical narrative, he committed adultery once. He committed murder once. In self-pride he numbered the people of his kingdom once. There was consequence to each of the actions, but the consequence was not that King David was brought down by calamity. He died in his castle at a ripe old age, just after seeing to it that the son of God's choice ascended to the throne.
The righteous rises again because God lifts the humble. Rising means we are forgiven and restored, but it does not necessarily mean that we rise above the consequences of the sin committed. A righteous man may look like he is beaten, like he is down for the long count, but if he is a man of integrity who will humble himself and confess and repent of his sin - he will rise again. It may be in a completely different way than ever expected or thought of, but God restores the righteous.
Sometimes there is no sin at all connected with a fall. Sometimes there are no answers as to why the righteous man is face down in the dirt. In such times, the righteous man holds to the truth that God is God, and he is to trust that one truth above all else. That is the story of a righteous man named Job. We cannot always see the greater purposes of God in the calamities of life. We are too finite and too close to the circumstances to be eternally objective. We simply have to trust the One that is.
Peter wrote his first epistle to the suffering church. They were scattered and undergoing persecution almost everywhere they settled. He addresses this very circumstance in chapter 5:10 when he says, "And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."
If you're down and your heart convicts you; confess, repent and throw yourself on the mercies of God. If your heart doesn't convict you, know that God called you to His eternal glory in Christ (perspective), and in due time He will cause you to rise again.
We serve a faithful God!