By Olubunmi Adebayo
*It is not good to fall.*
*But without giving excuses, there are times you fall by reason of circumstances that are beyond your control.*
*Therefore, if and whenever a man falls, he must be determined to rise again.*
*Listen to the Mind of God on this :*
*Proverbs 24: [16] “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief”.*
*Note this simple fact about life therefore : While it is possible to fail, it will be terrible, and perhaps almost criminal, not to get up from the point of failure.*
*1) Consider the story of how David left his Camp unguarded and unprotected, and the subsequent attack by the enemies on his Camp and the act of setting fire on Ziklag (1 Sam 30:1-end).*
*David from this attack lost his family, and every soldier with him lost their wives and children to the rampaging Amalekites marauders.*
*In fact, the soldiers of David were ready to stone him for not taking precautions and making adequate protective plans for the Camp filled with women and children before setting out.*
*But the lesson for us was that David rose up from this point of setback by encouraging himself in the Lord. The story became very interesting when David and his men pursued the enemies, fought gallantly against them and recovered everything they had lost.*
*David never allowed the initial falling of his Camp into the hands of the enemies to deter him not to pursue the enemies.*
*2)The second example of falling but rising again, was the story of a young man who felt he could share the inner secrets of his heart with his own blood brothers, thinking that there should be no harm in doing so (Gen 37:4-8).*
*But he was mistaken, his revelation evoked the jealousy of his brothers who ended up selling him into slavery thereafter.*
*Joseph didn’t allow this experience to turn him into an outcast or a villain. He rose through the experience by becoming a good boy who had learned his lesson in TRUST but with an excellent and positive attitude towards life thereafter.*
*His positive attitude to rise later took him to the palace in a foreign land (Gen 41:9).*
*3) The third example was a man who lost everything he had. This was a man who was the richest of the men of the East (Job 1:3). Yet, he never gave up on hope that things would change and turn around for good.*
*God eventually gave as much as twice as what Job had lost back to him (Job 42:10).*
*Job was an epitome that a man can rise after falling, if such a man is determined to. Job rejected every suggestion that he should give up on God. The wife even suggested that he should curse God and die. But that was not Job.*
*4) Another example is that of Naomi, the wife of Elimelech.*
*To be concluded tomorrow, God willing.*
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©️ Olubunmi S Adebayo.
