Faith Ain’t Luck…It’s Showing Up, and Showing Up, and Showing Up

Proverbs 21:31Do your best, prepare for the worst—then trust God to bring victory.Proverbs Daily is a reader and listener supported program. Every post is free, but if you’d like to help spread the message and make the sacred positively contagious consider being a free or paid subscriber. Just look for the word upgrade or subscribe and click on that. Thanks in advance!You ever watch someone win a big game, hit the post-game interview, still breathing hard, and they go:“I want to thank God for this victory! It’s because of Him I won! ”You Can FLY!!! And I love a good victory speech, but I'm low key always cringe because cause I'm thinking…even if that's my dude, “But what about this 'Schmuck' over here that just lost? Like, did God want him to lose? I mean, did God foil his plan for victory?”I know messy, right?I know I’ve read Bible verses, thought I understood them, and OFF–RIP ran out expecting life to go my way…I mean I got the PROMISES RIGHT?! Then got mad when it didn’t work. Mad at the Bible. Mad at God. Mad at the church. Just mad.But like most love affairs, I couldn’t stay mad. I kept coming back to the text…wanting to understand, “Why wasn’t it working the way I thought it would?” And one day, it hit me:  "Oh, Proverbs ain't promising instant success for the righteous. The Bible's not a magic lucky charm, even though it's magically delicious. It's a real record of real people writing about their real connection with the divine. That's it.Some Bible teachers won’t tell you this, but I’ve discovered that Proverbs often paints with a broad brush: do right, life is good; do wrong, life is bad. Simple, right? But come on…we all know that life is messy. Doing everything “right” doesn’t guarantee instant results.  That's why we have books like Job. Job did everything right and still got hit by Life circumstances. Yes, wisdom and patience eventually restored what was broken, but we all value his story of how he went through and how he made it to the other side. In fact, I highly recommend reading Proverbs and Job together to really learn that balance.But let’s break it down this verse right here: First: Do your best. That’s balance. That’s honesty. Do the best you can do and once you’re at your best, you don’t have to do anything else. Second: Prepare for the worst. Why?  Because the worst comes for us, whether we like it or not. Remember these scriptures came from people who faced all types of adversity, famine, pestilence, tyrannical rulers, personal heartbreak. The best of them were like, been there prepared for that and that's why I'm still here. Third: Trust God for the victory. That’s good stuff.  This is the kind of verse that doesn't sugarcoat life or make you feel like you are failing if life isn't going your way.Here’s a little secret: maturity in wisdom isn’t expecting life to match your sense of fairness. It’s holding your best effort in one hand, the all the chaos in the other, and still trusting God—that means showing up…and the next day showing up…and the moment you mess up instead of ‘show up’ you simply decide, “I will try better again tomorrow.”I’m a give you the cutthroat truth: if you’re thinking, I don’t see my victory yet, don’t get mad at God. Learn the rhythm of doing, preparing, and trusting. That’s where wisdom lives.Remember:“Faith ain’t luck; it’s showing up again–and again–and again.”🙏🏽 PrayerGod, help me to show up and do my best.💡 Today’s Challenge:Make your bed perfectly today. That’s it. Showing up matters. One small, intentional act counts. Own it, finish it, and let that rhythm remind you: faith is in the daily, practical things as much as the big victories.About the AuthorFred Lynch is a creative communicator, author, and Christian Hip Hop pioneer. To learn more about Fred and what he’s up to now…click here or you can find him in all the socials by searching the handle: heyfredlynch📱Experience Proverbs Daily by Subscribing!Ready to receive daily wisdom directly on your phone?Go to proverbsdaily.org for the app  or just click that Subscribe button right now!Be Wise and Be Well...peace.Thanks for reading Proverbs Daily! This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Hey Fred Lynch! at heyfredlynch.substack.com/subscribe