Devotionals By Chris Jordan

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

There was a catchy song that came out many years ago by a band called Chumbawumba. The title to the song was as original as the band’s name: Tubthumping. But names aside, it was the lyrics to the chorus that were so memorable: “I get knocked down, but I get up again, you ain’t never gonna keep me down.” Those lyrics echo the idea in today’s Scripture. Because the prophet Micah declared this truth with a certainty: “When I fall.” Notice he never said, “If I fall.” No! He recognized that sooner or later, he (and indeed all of us who consider ourselves a part of the human race) would fall. That isn’t the question. The question is: When we do fall, what will we do next? But let’s go back to the beginning of this verse and explore it together.

“Do not rejoice against me, O my enemy.” One of the first things that happens when we fall is that the enemy of our souls – Satan (AKA the devil) – likes to rejoice over us and accuse us. He says things like, “I knew you would fall. You’re hopeless. You’ll never succeed. You’ll never get back up again. You’re a failure. God could never love you. How could anyone love you? Loser!” But you see, the devil is a liar. He comes only to steal, kill and destroy. He wants to discourage you, and overwhelm you with fear, guilt and shame. But when he shows up, our response is simple: “Do not rejoice against me, O my enemy!” Or, if I could paraphrase this a little: “Shut up, devil!” Don’t listen to his lies and accusations. Resist him, and he will flee from you.

“When I fall, I will arise.” Again, notice the inevitability here: We will fall. No matter how well we do in life, there will come a day when we will fall. Maybe the fall is a moral failure – we fall into sin and do something we know God doesn’t want us to do. Perhaps the fall is an emotional one – we fall into depression, anxiety or hopelessness. Or maybe the fall is a relational one – we are disloyal, unfaithful, or we hurt or betray someone we love. It really doesn’t matter what caused the fall. We can still declare in faith: “I WILL ARISE!” We don’t have to lie down and give up. Get back up again! “Rise up!”

“When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light unto me.” It’s an easy thing for me to say, But I am also acutely aware of the fact that sometimes the fall is so destructive that we genuinely feel like we can’t get back up again. And we find ourselves sitting in the darkness. Unmoving. Alone. Afraid. Hopeless. There was a season in my life many years ago where I battled a depression that was so bad that I didn’t even want to get out of bed in the morning. I struggled with feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and even suicidal ideation. And yet, every morning my loving wife would come to me and whisper, “You’ve got this. We can do this. You just need to do today. We can do one day, can’t we?” Her affirming, encouraging words would help me get up and face the day.

One of the things I love about the last portion of this verse is God’s response to us, when we sit down or lie down in defeat in the midst of dark seasons. He doesn’t come along with a big baseball bat of condemnation saying, “What are you doing sitting there in darkness? You know better than that! I’m disgusted with you!” No, the Bible tells us that even when we are comfortably sitting in darkness, that the Lord lovingly comes to us with the light of his tender mercy and says, “I see you’ve fallen into a pit of miry clay, and you can’t get out by yourself. Let me lift you out of there and set your feet back on a rock!” And by God’s grace, we can then say again, “I will arise!”