I had this verse come across my feed today and I have really been thinking about it:
PROVERB 24:16 For a righteous person falls seven times and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of disaster.
A righteous man? Who is this righteous man? What makes him righteous? Who is this wicked man and what makes him wicked?
I believe the mystery of this verse is revealed from within this verse, let’s look around and find out, the verse previous seems to be the contrasting verse and also appears to be the verse that sets the scene for verse 16
15: Do not lie in ambush, you wicked person, against the home of the righteous; Do not destroy his resting place;
16: For a righteous person falls seven times and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of disaster.
The warning to a “malicious” person to not go against the “good” person, because the good guy won’t quit, he never gives up, he keeps going! But the bad person is happy with not getting up… Happy in the wreckage he has made of his life.
The term “7 times” is used many times and it can be translated as “The righteous person may fall all his life, but he always gets back up”
The wicked man also stumbles but he is happy in this fallen condition and doesn’t bother to even try to fix his life again….
A modern “Sam’s Place” translation might sound like this: Even though the guys at Sam’s Place may fall a thousand times, they keep working on “Getting life back on track”, they never quit. But every so often a guy with a seared conscience will make it into Sam’s Place and that man will try to get every other man to fail… Our guys don’t quit that easy, they keep trying and finding new ways to get life back on track…
The last few months were brutal, we had a wicked man like that. He worked overtime to make everyone fail. Although he got some guys to “fall” for a short time, they haven’t failed. Sam’s Place worked extra hard and we finally succeeded at the cure.
It can take about $5000.00 and three months of time to remedy this. It’s painful, makes me want to just QUIT, but Jess and I know God’s plan is greater. I am sharpening my vetting skills, becoming better at the process. Learning how to separate the tares from the wheat… (Matthew 13:24–30).
It’s infuriating to have to do “evictions” but it becomes part of the program. When it is necessary, it gets expensive and time consuming… When I take a chance, “give a guy a break” because I felt sorry for him and missed the fact he is just a malicious man hiding behind a disability.
In the end, God is always good and we know we serve the guys with struggles in life, it can and does get messy.
One day I will write about this ordeal. How broken the system really is. How it protects a very wicked man that is destroying the lives of vulnerable adults. How he manipulated guys that are easily influenced. How I need to pay thousands of dollars to get my rights enforced. How he is “protected from me” while he steals, cheats and destroys the lives around him. How difficult it is to “kick a guy out” after he violates my rights. How the law enforcement agency won’t enforce the law because the county attorney won’t prosecute. How I am forced by the “law” to feed this man, provide for this man, cloth this man, care for this man, as he slowly and intentionally steals, curses me, and violates my rights. How I need to install furnaces, boilers and do service calls just to pay for this man to live at my expense. How my vacation was destroyed. How my wife cried.
But today I just wanted to write about “NOT GIVING UP” . I don’t really think of myself as a righteous man but according to the Proverb I listed above. If resilience is the mark of a righteous person, then I am absolutely a righteous man. I am not giving up! We will continue to do good and help these men at Sam’s Place to get life back on track…
Please consider helping us. If you are a Godly man that loves to mentor struggling men, if you are a prayer worrier that loves to spend time in your inner room, if you are rich beyond your wildest dreams, we covet your attention and consideration.
With a spirit of service to the KING of KINGS, C.
Praying!