Verse of the Day for April 21

This proverb is about the difference between two men, and the difference is not that one of them stays upright.

For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

The just man falls seven times. Seven is the number of completeness in Hebrew, so this is not an allowance for the occasional lapse — it is a description of a full quota of falling.

What distinguishes him is the second verb. He rises.

Which reframes the question most people carry about their own spiritual life. The measure offered is not how few times you have fallen but whether you have got up on each occasion.

And there is a quiet realism in the arithmetic. Nobody counts to seven who was expecting one.

A person who has fallen six times and risen six times is, by this proverb, a just man having a hard year.

The counting is not the enemy's. It is in scripture, and it goes to seven.