We Don’t Just Rise Again

It’s been a beautiful Spring Break week. University work allowed me to be home with all three of my young adult children this week, and we made the most of it!  We took part in lots of local activities, had some great meals and even greater conversations, enjoyed a movie day in our PJs, and caught up on our sleep.  Aside from some very unfortunate spring allergy symptoms, I’m feeling refreshed!  I thank God for that.  

For the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking about the phrase “seventy times seven” from Matthew 18.  The Bible is full of the operation of God’s grace in our lives, and once we start to see it, it’s hard to live without it!

Then Peter came to Him and asked, “Lord, how many times will my brother sin against me and I forgive him and let it go? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered him, “I say to you, not up to seven times, but seventy times seven.”

Matthew 18:21-22 AMP

Not too long ago, I was feeling quite the opposite of refreshed.  I actually felt pretty rotten about some things I just can’t seem to get right.  I’m very aware of my imperfections, but I don’t often beat myself up about them.  I fully know and believe that the overall image of my failings, when it comes before my eyes, is a distraction… a weapon formed against me to knock me off the course of what God has prepared for me to do.  

Without question, I know this as a deep and inspiring truth.  The Bible tells us to agree quickly with our enemy when he comes to accuse us lest he put us in prison (Matt 5:25), so my trained response is usually something like, “Yep, that’s right. I did that. That’s why I need Jesus!”  And that’s the end of it.

Why pick up my own defense when the Lord has already done it for me, and so-so-so much better than I ever could? (For more on this subject, read Stop Beating Yourself Up.)

I know all the various ways in which I’m a mess, but so does my Father, and He still chose me.  Next time the enemy comes to accuse you, resist him by making him look at that truth and then watch him run away, in Jesus’ name (James 4:7).  

There is no power like the power of God’s miraculous grace.

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And her gates shall lament and mourn; empty, she shall sit on the ground.

Isaiah 3:26 ESV

But when I’m mentally or physically exhausted…

When my children are really struggling…

When I’ve waited and trusted, but still can’t see how God is going to make a way through…

If I begin to lament and mourn over my situation instead of trusting God, I end up feeling empty and sitting on the ground when I should be standing in faith and believing His promises.

Now, there is a time for mourning (Ecc 3:1-8).  I fully believe that when it is time to mourn, we must grieve utterly and weep deeply, but as one who still has hope… holding onto His hand, reaching for the hem of His garment. By doing this, we allow the Lord to minister His tender care in our sadness and devastation until His healing comes.  And whether that takes six weeks or seven years, the Lord promises it will come (Matt 5:4, Psalm 34:18, Psalm 73:26, Psalm 119:50, Psalm 147:3). 

But there are also times when mourning should not be allowed:

• When we are in a weakened state, physically, emotionally, or mentally, sometimes sadness and self-pity will try to enter our thoughts and undermine our actions.  We need to remind ourselves that we are just tired, and everything will look better after we have rested and replenished our systems (look at Elijah).
  
• When our children are struggling, we may be tempted to sit down in fear and parental guilt. During these times in my own life, the Lord has very strongly directed me to put those emotions down and pick up a Biblical level of FAITH for my children. In those moments, sadness and lamenting are a complete distraction. Instead, we pray God’s Word and His strong protection over our children, we dedicate ourselves to regular fasting on their behalf, and we take a stand to BELIEVE and not doubt:
  • My child will hear the voice of the Lord over every other voice right in the center of who they are, just between them and God.  
  • I will see the goodness of God in the land of the living when it comes to my child. 
  • I will not lament and be distracted. I will believe God!
    
• When we feel we have waited long enough, but still have long to go, we may be tempted to despair, but this is a way for the enemy to come in and steal from us!  We must be determined within ourselves to keep trusting, keep obeying… even in the small things… and keep believing God in the midst of our uncertainty.  He will fulfill His promises. Period. (Hebrews 10:23)
  
• When we just can’t seem to get it right… and this is a red flag area for me… if I allow myself to focus on the frailty of my own humanity, then all I will be able to see is failure.  The Lord may set fruitfulness and harvest before my eyes, but when I am mournfully focused on myself, I become blind to every good thing. 

I’m a firstborn. In my achievement-oriented personality, I naturally have what is called an “internal locus of control,” which means that apart from Christ, I naturally believe that every success is because I’m awesome, and every failure is because I’m awful.  Me, me, me.  Every misunderstanding, every struggle my kids go through, every relationship difficulty, every bump in the road is all my fault.  If I’m not able to succeed in this or that, it’s because I. am. a. failure.  

In my former life, I lived every day in the extremes of awesome and awful… always striving for approval and perfection, but never reaching either impossible goal.  As a result, I became paralyzed in perpetual hopelessness.  

It’s really no wonder that I suffered from an overall sense of instability in my former life.  When my hope is placed on what I can do instead of what God can do, there really is no hope at all. 

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For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, but the wicked stumble in time of disaster and collapse.

Proverbs 24:16 AMP

During the recent season I mentioned when I found myself caught up in self-degradation, I began praying and reminding myself of scripture to overcome the lowness of it all (I hate that low feeling).

One of my favorite God-help verses is Proverbs 24:16a, “A righteous man falls seven times, and he rises again…” 

I’ve reminded myself of that verse many, many times.  But this time, something different happened.  When I repeated the words to myself yet again, as I have so often done, I heard God’s internal still small voice respond to me and say, “seventy times seven.”  As in, “a righteous man falls [seventy times seven] times, and he rises again.”  

Hmm… what does that mean?

A righteous man is one who has been purchased by the Lord. Bought with His blood. Made righteous through Christ alone. He has received God’s forgiveness and declared aloud that Jesus is Lord over his life (Rom 10:8-10). This means that God and His Word are in charge, not us.

If we were in charge, all would be condemned, ourselves included. But when we put God in charge of our mind, will, and emotions, He says things to us that are full of grace like, “Not up to seven times, but seventy times seven!”

Life is hard, but we are NOT in it alone. When we have chosen to follow God, HE will ALWAYS be by our side. So when it’s time to forgive and let it go, we don’t just do it seven times while harboring secret unforgiveness in the back of our closet… we must do it ALL THE WAY, asking for God’s help and trusting that HE is enabling healing in that situation!

And when it’s time to forgive ourselves, we don’t just put on a pretty face and pretend we have it all together… we shake the dust off completely, we stand up tall with our head lifted high, and we THANK GOD that we don’t just rise again seven times, but seventy times seven, in Jesus’ name!

His ways make all the difference.

Seventy times seven, to me, is the number of His grace. Because His love is unending and unconditional (Rom 8:38-39)… because His forgiveness casts my sin out of His memory and as far as the east is from the west (Acts 3:19, Psalm 103:11-13)… I am refreshed and I rise again.

Not perfect, mind you. Just forgiven.

So repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins] and return [to God—seek His purpose for your life], so that your sins may be wiped away [blotted out, completely erased], so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord [restoring you like a cool wind on a hot day].

Acts 3:19 AMP