“Do not rejoice over me my enemy; when I fall, I will arise, when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.” Micah 7:8 (NKJV)

The contemporary application of our devotional passage can easily be assigned to anyone who has experienced the wrath of the enemy, fallen into unpleasant and potentially devastating circumstances, or who find themselves living in darkness and in need of a word or revelation from the Lord. Let it be known that whenever and however you may fall, it is categorically and unequivocally guaranteed that you will rise again. How long you decide to stay down and in the midst of the event that placed you there is strictly up to you. You will rise again. “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.” Proverbs 24:16 (NKJV) For the sake of clarification in this context, a “righteous” man is not gender exclusive but is defined as “ a just person who is in line with God’s standards.”

The historical backdrop of the passage speaks directly to the ultimate restoration of Israel. They had sinned; just as we do. They had rebelled against the word of God; just as we do. They had lost their focus and chosen other gods or material things as their priority; just as we have. They had become willing victims of sin’s deceptions, disappointments, and distortions; just as we have. It was said that the moral climate of that day was so decadent that a man could not trust his friend or counselor. Family relationships had fallen into the deepest forms of dysfunction and disrepute. “For son dishonors father; daughter rises against her mother in-law. A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.” Micah 7:6 (NKJV) Israel had fallen; just as we have at some point and time. Thank God that was not the end of the story.

“Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.” Micah 7:7 (NKJV) This is the proper attitude and mindset for those of us, including Israel who find ourselves in any fallen condition. Who we look to when we fall will determine who we look to when we rise. When we rise, the enemy cannot rejoice over us. When we rise, we will be better then than we ever were before. When we rise although we were once in darkness we can now experience the light of the Lord. These statements are a creed for crisis times. They make specific what the vision, attitude, and faith of a believer should be. If you want to rise again from being down then look up to the Lord. We look up in a spirit of repentance. Okay, you made a mistake. You fell short. You came short of the glory of God. You fell but don’t ever underestimate the mercy of God, you will rise again!

When you are down and fallen, there is only one place to look. “I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2 (NKJV) God is able and willing to lift us when we fall. Falling is not an “if” condition. As long as we live we have the potential to fall, it is merely a matter of when. Yet, as long as we live we have the irrefutable truth of God’s word that when we fall, we will rise again. “We fall down, but we get up. We fall down but we get up. We fall down but we get up. For a saint is just a sinner who fell down, and got up.” Donnie McClurkin.