Get Back Up
Proverbs 24:16 For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.
When I was young and living in south Florida, I had a silver ten-speed bike. I could wheelie that bike through three gears around the block. I was proud of it too. One day I was doing my usual wheelie when the front tire came off my bike. There was something about that tire coming off that threw me off my game. Instead of thinking of going around the block, I was just trying to make it to the ditch, but I just couldn’t keep the front end of my bike up any longer. As the bike came down, the forks dug into the street, and I flew over the handlebars and landed on my chin. If you know anything about south Florida pavement, it can be unfriendly with jagged pieces of shells, etc. When I got up off the street, my shirt was covered with blood, and I had a huge chunk of skin missing from my chin. My mom had to take me to the hospital, where a very mean doctor gave me eight stitches. It was a traumatic experience for me.
Someone might think that having that experience would have stopped me from trying to wheelie my ten-speed as before, but it didn’t. I came home, put the front wheel back on my bike, and, this time, ensured it was secure. In no time, I went right back to doing wheelies.
I share that story to demonstrate the many instances where the thought of getting back up after a mistake is no big deal. So why should it be a big deal for anyone regarding spiritual things?
A righteous man may fall seven times and rise again!
The great apostle Peter stumbled and denied the Lord three times, but he got back up and went on to be and do what the Lord said he would be and do. He later stumbled again in Antioch when he was leading believers down the wrong path when the Judaisers had come to visit from Jerusalem. He separated himself from the Gentile believers and only spent time with the Jewish ones. It was even leading Barnabas astray. But after Paul rebuked Peter for his mistake, Peter repented and changed his ways again. He got back up!
During our journey with the Lord, we are going to make mistakes. We are going to fall down, so to speak. But we are made righteous with the very righteousness of God, and a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again!
I may not know what is happening in your walk with Jesus right now, but I do know that no matter what is going on, He is always for you rising back up after any fall.
Rising back up means going back to what you were supposed to be doing when you fell. Like me as a kid returning to doing wheelies and not allowing any fear or trauma to stop me from doing what I enjoyed, you and I are not supposed to let any fear or trauma from a fall hinder us from doing and enjoying the will of God for our lives.
The beauty of grace is that it allows us to make mistakes without losing our hope of recovery. Grace brings us back to where we were meant to be to start with. It will enable us to look to Jesus when we stumble and fall and realize His love hasn’t changed, He has not changed His mind about being for us, and He wants to help us get back up and get going again.
God is not only for you when you are experiencing success. He is also with you and for you in the midst of your failures. He loves you and is for you, and He wants to equip you to succeed. Mistakes are part of that process, and He understands that about us. So even if this is the seventh time you stumbled and fell, get back up! Jesus is extending His arm and hand to you in grace and mercy to help you. You can rise again and get right back on track with Him. I have had to take His hand many times and will do so many more. I am just glad He loves me so greatly and cares so deeply as to be willing to help me every time.
