How to Get Up When We Fall

 

The greatest fall in the history of humanity was that of Adam and Eve. In order for you and me to have the victory in life that God desires for us, we need to understand three very significant details about their fall. The first of which is the reality of their original state of being. This is so important to understand because it is the original intention of God for humanity. The second is understanding that Adam and Eve always had the element of choice and there was never a point where they were without it. The final piece of knowledge that you and I must understand is regarding their state of being after the fall. God allowed them to live, and we need to understand more about why He did this.

The original state
One of the things that we can’t ever forget is the reality that God created a habitation for humanity before He created them. He set a precedent for us to understand, and it is two-fold. First, He is intelligent beyond anything we can fathom, and secondly, He meant for us to rely on His provision. He planned to have an eternal family, made a place for us to live, and then created us. Adam and Eve never worried where they would sleep or what they would eat. They leaned totally on God and that is the way He wanted it, not just for them, but for us as well.

God gave them instructions and statues to follow. It was Adam who named the various species of animals, so we know that he was intelligent, and that he understood everything that Heavenly Father communicated to him. God made Adam and Eve holy, like Him, and it was their holiness that made it possible for them to commune with Heavenly Father through His Spirit. So, leaning on God totally, and being holy and without sin was their original state. Heavenly Father’s original intention was that they both continue to live in holy fellowship and communion with Him, because doing so would have allowed them to live a blissful existence.

The element of choice
Nothing was spared when it came to Adam and Eve’s happiness. They had everything they could have possibly needed, but they allowed the devil to convince them that God had not been truthful with them, that He had withheld a benefit from them. This wasn’t the truth, but they bought into the lie, and because of it, they lost their holiness.

Heavenly Father never withheld the element of choice from Adam and Eve. They had free-will choice, just as we have it today. Romans 11:29(NLT) tells us, “For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.” God never has to do a do-over or a takeback. His Word never fails and once it goes forth, it accomplishes the thing for which He sends it.

God’s Word established His original intention, and through the reality of His grace and mercy, He allowed us the choice to choose whether we would walk in His love or walk outside of it. He has demonstrated for us that this is the way love operates. It doesn’t restrict the choice between right or wrong. Love educates us about the best choices to make. It is then up to us to decide.

To fall is to move downward, and to do so without any control and in rapid descent. In order to fall, one would have to be at a higher point and descend to a lower point. God set Adam and Eve at the highest point imaginable. Daily, they had the tremendous privilege of walking and talking with the Creator of the entire universe. The heavens were open to them, and they knew a freedom and quality of existence that is unparalleled. Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience is referred to as the “The Fall of Man” because they were at such a high point, and sin caused them to fall to such a catastrophic low.   

This was not what our Heavenly Father wanted. It was not His intention for them, but He allowed them to make their choice and to face the consequences of it. He does the same for us. We make mistakes, and our tendency is to play the blame game, but through our Heavenly Father’s generosity, we can limit the amount of poor choices we make by following His Word. If Adam and Eve had obeyed Him, they would have continued to enjoy holiness and all the benefits it extends, but they wanted independence from God. They no longer wanted to remain under His sovereignty. So, they were lied to and tricked into following the same track that satan began when he acted out of arrogance and disobedience and was expelled from the third heaven.

Life in abundance
Romans 6:23(NLT) tells us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” After Adam and Eve sinned, they died a spiritual death, and death entered their bodies, but they did not die an immediate physical death. Our Heavenly Father could have said, “Whooa! This is a bad batch of humans. They didn’t turn out the way I expected. I will get rid of this batch and start over.” Thank goodness, God did not do this. Although He didn’t want Adam and Eve to sin, He knew they would, and He always had a plan of redemption for humanity through His Son, Jesus Christ.

We are the children of a redeeming God, and this is extraordinarily good news! Even though God has told us in His Word the right way to go, we still do things that are contrary to what’s He’s told us. We ignore and reject His guidance many times, but He never gives up on us. We have an enemy, satan, and he is constantly plotting and trying to trick us the same way he did the first man and woman. Through a bombardment of wrong information, issues, and distractions, the devil uses our weaknesses to trap us in sin.

We often fall for the temptations that the devil puts in our way, even though God has given us everything we need to remain strong and stand on His Word. Since the creation of humanity, our God has demonstrated that He is a forgiving God, and He is willing to help us and extend His mercy through our hiccups and missteps. In life, some of us will fall many times, but we can be confident that through Jesus Christ, we can get back up. We should be committed to live each day with a deep level of thankfulness for God’s forgiveness. We must do our very best to reject the disobedience of Adam and Eve and be committed to measure up to the example of our beloved brother and Savior, Jesus Christ. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“How to Get Up When We Fall”, written for Christian Encouragement and Inspiration© 2021. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.