Proverbs 24:16: “For a righteous man may fall seven times / And rise again, / But the wicked shall fall by calamity.”

June 28th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

We know that in the Old Testament 7 means complete or continually. This verse reminds us that although the plots of the wicked against the believer might be temporarily successful, they will not succeed in the end. Godly people do fail and sometimes fall into sin. Falling is a fact of life. You are not a failure for falling; you only truly fail if you refuse to get back up.

Just as a baby learning to walk falls many times, so do we believers fall as we learn to walk with God. And God, like a parent, does not scold for falling, but puts us back on our feet and says, “Let’s try that again.” We are to brush ourselves off, get up, and try it once more. Whenever Satan comes in saying, “What’s the use of trying again? Why set yourself up for more failure? Why don’t you just give up?” it is then that the words of this proverb should come back to us. We should cling to them, like clinging to a life raft in a raging sea.

So, my friend, have you fallen again? Welcome to the human race. All of us have fallen and will fall again. That is not an excuse to just keep sinning, because we are also commanded to resist temptation. But each and every one of us, try as we might, as long as we are still in these bodies of flesh, will fall again. However, it is what we do with our failure that will reveal what kind of person we really are. A righteous person (who has received the righteousness of Christ) may fall 7 times and rise again. We serve the God of another chance. Failure is not fatal. God does not see failure as final, but the person who refuses to repent, get up, and try again, can become stuck there for a long time. Said another way, failing doesn’t make you a failure, but not attempting to rise again will keep you a failure.

“LORD, we thank You that You do not view our failures as fatal. We thank You that You are the God of the second chance . . . and the third . . . and the fourth . . . and so on.”