Australia’s “Golden Girl” Betty Cuthbert returned from injury-forced retirement to take Gold in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Gianmarco Tamberi suffered a leg injury in 2016 ruling him out of the Rio games and returned to Tokyo this year to secure Gold, and only a few days ago Sifan Hassan won her 1500m heat after falling in the final lap… the Olympics certainly provide no shortage of comeback stories.

What does it take to be someone who, though they’re knocked down, gets back up?

My life has felt a bit like a series of knockdowns recently. Grandfather passing, unable to see family for wakes or weddings, jobs ending, relational tension, visas expiring, tenancies terminating, tears seeming to freefall without rhyme or reason, the inability to remember my pin number when paying for x-rays (seriously)… 

“though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
    for the Lord upholds his hand.”
Psalm 24:16 ESV

So how do we get back up? How do we rise again? How do we comeback?

It’s in the power of the “though”…

Though an army besiege me,
    my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
    even then I will be confident.
Psalm 27:3 NIV

…though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4 NIV

Though the fig tree does not bud
    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
    and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
    and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.
Habakkuk 3:17-18 NIV

Our lives are full of though moments. It’s what it means to be alive in a broken world with broken people living broken lives. It happens to Olympians, and it happens to ordinary folk like you and me. But here’s the thing. The “though” isn’t the finish line. If there’s a though, it means the rest of the sentence is coming. There will be a “yet” or an “I will” or a “God will”…

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16 NIV)

Don’t be downcast, put your hope in God for you will yet praise Him again (Psalm 43:5). Whatever though you’re going through right now, remember the greatest comeback of all time. Though Jesus was crucified. Though He died. Though he was buried. Though He was three days in the grave. It didn’t end there. The very same Spirit that saw Jesus rise again can help you get back up too.

Though you may stumble, you will not fall, for the Lord upholds you with his hand.