What does a faithful life look like?

We might picture someone who has it all together. Someone whose faith never wavers, who consistently makes wise choices, he/she can quote Bible verses, and seems to move from one victory to another.

Proverbs gives us a more realistic picture.

“The righteous falls seven times and rises again.”

In the Bible, seven often represents completeness or fullness. The point isn’t that a righteous person gets exactly seven chances. It’s that even the righteous fall. Again and again, life knocks them down, and yet they rise.

In the immediate context, this proverb seems especially concerned with adversity. The righteous person may experience trouble, suffering, opposition, or setbacks. Being faithful to God does not provide immunity from those things.

Sometimes you can do the right thing and still lose.

• You can work faithfully and still get passed over for the promotion.
• You can care deeply about a relationship and still watch it fall apart.
• You can make wise decisions and still encounter circumstances you never could have anticipated.

The Christian life isn’t a promise that everything will go smoothly.

But neither is falling the end of the story.

There’s also a broader truth here that Christians know well. Sometimes our falls aren’t things that happen to us. Sometimes they’re our own doing.

We lose our temper again or return to an old temptation. Sometimes it’s a selfish choice we knew better than to make. We resolve to do better and then discover, once again, just how deeply sin runs within us.

What do you do then?

The temptation is either to excuse the sin or to despair over it. The Gospel gives us another way:

Repent and get back up.

Not because your determination is stronger this time, but because Christ is faithful.

The righteous person in Scripture isn’t someone who has achieved a spotless record before God. Our righteousness comes from outside ourselves. Christ took our sin upon Himself at the cross and gives His righteousness to us. Through faith in Him, God declares sinners righteous.

That means failure doesn’t have the final word.

When you sin, you can confess it honestly because Christ has already paid for it. If suffering knocks you down, you can cry out to God knowing that He knows what suffering is like and has not abandoned you. Your terrible yesterdays can give way to new days when you rise to receive another day of His mercy.

The righteous fall. And by the grace of God, they rise again.

So if you’re on the ground today, it’s not over.

Look to Christ.

Receive His forgiveness, take His hand, and let Him lift you back up.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

You know the ways I have fallen, both through the troubles that have come upon me and through my own sin. When I am discouraged, keep me from giving up. When I have sinned, lead me to honest repentance rather than excuses or despair. Thank You that my righteousness does not depend on my perfect record, but on Jesus Christ and His righteousness given to me. Forgive me, strengthen me, and by Your grace help me rise again and continue walking with You.

Amen.

As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:

• Your family
• Your local church
• Your pastor
• Some of your fellow church members
• The people on your B.L.E.S.S. list
• Your country and her leaders
• Your community

After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.