For Those Who Are Kicked Off Their Feet

The righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity – Prov. 24:16

I know of two people who are undergoing extreme trials. One of them is in severe pain both physically and emotionally. The other cannot seem to land decent employment and as a result has to move from place to place. Promises are given and promises are broken. Yet both endure but they desire to quit always lingers deep in the recesses of their minds. Every time they get up from being knocked down, they get knocked down again. . .again. . .again and again. It seems like they are always picking themselves up off the ground. I am running out of words to say to them. The typical phrases, “God is preparing you for something better,” “God is helping you to trust Him more,” “All this is designed to increase your faith,” “These trials are temporary. Don’t get discourage, the blessings are coming,” etc. Such things and there are a lot more seem cliché. I even find myself doubting my own words of encouragement. I feel their pain to a degree and I wonder if God is listening and going to do something about their circumstances.

In A View from the Zoo, Gary Richmond tells about the birth of a giraffe: The first things to emerge are the baby giraffe’s front hooves and head. A few minutes later the plucky newborn is hurled forth, falls ten feet, and lands on its back. Within seconds, he rolls to an upright position with his legs tucked under his body. From this position he considers the world for the first time and shakes himself. The mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to take a quick look. Then she positions herself directly over the calf. She waits for about a minute, then she does the most unreasonable thing. She swings her long, pendulous leg outward and kicks her baby, so that it is sent sprawling head over heels. When it doesn’t get up, the violent process is repeated over and over again.

The struggle to rise is momentous. As the baby calf grows tired, the mother kicks it again to stimulate its efforts....Finally, the calf stands for the first time on its wobbly legs. Then the mother giraffe does the most remarkable thing. She kicks it off its feet again. Why? She wants it to remember how it got up! In the wild, baby giraffes must be able to get up as quickly as possible to stay with the herd, where there is safety. Lions, hyenas, leopards, and wild hunting dogs all enjoy young giraffes, and they’d get it too, if the mother didn’t teach her calf to get up quickly and get on with it!

Like the young giraffe, the righteous too are knocked down again and again. Why? Because there is coming a day of calamity – a day when standing on one’s feet will be absolutely essential for survival. If we do not know how to get up during times without calamity, how in the world will we survive the real test, when there are spiritual prey all around us waiting for us to fall and become weak, vulnerable and turn instantly into a victim?

God does know what He is doing. God is fully in control of what happens to us and is mindful of our pain. God also loves us too much to allow us to fail and become a victim during times of calamity. According to Proverbs 24, the difference between the righteous and the wicked is that during times of calamity (i.e. times of real severe testings), the righteous get right back up again, while the wicked turn into victims. This is God’s way to point to the world who His people are and how better off they are with Jesus in their lives.

Yes, getting knocked down by your own mother may seem cruel, just like getting knocked down by God seems baffling. But the mother giraffe knows something about life that her baby is yet to experience. During those knock down periods, the baby’s willingness to cooperate with its mom and trust that she knows what she is doing to it, will end up saving the baby giraffe’s life out in the wild when calamity is all around it. In the end, the baby giraffe will end up doing the same thing to its young (if it’s a female), because that’s what mother’s do as a way of showing love to its young.

Now how much more does God love His own and wants to see them succeed and rise up in life when the time really counts? My only advice to us all of us when we are knocked down repeatedly is to get right back up – and NEVER forget how you were able to do so.