Falling and Rising: Professor Isaac Megbolugbe’s 74-Year Journey of Faithful Perseverance
Isaac Megbolugbe
August 2026
Introduction
A righteous life is not a straight line of flawless victories. It is a long journey marked by many failures, deep struggles, and constant recovery. This truth is beautifully captured in Proverbs 24:16: “For a righteous man falls seven times and rises again.” In scripture, the number seven signifies completeness. This means a good person will face complete, repeated collapse, yet they always get back up.
The raw materials of Professor Isaac Megbolugbe’s 74 years of lived experience offer modern humanity a living masterclass in this proverb. His life shows that a person keeps falling precisely because they refuse to stay down, and they keep rising because of a deep faith in God’s sustaining power.
The Theology of the Fall and the Rise
To understand a life of righteous perseverance, we must look at how God interacts with human weakness through three distinct stages.
[ Justification ] —> [ Sanctification ] —> [ Glorification ]
Declared Righteous The Falling & Rising God’s Ultimate Glory
(Faith in Christ) (The 74-Year Journey) (Fruitful Flourishing)
1. Justification: Declared Righteous by Faith
A person is not called righteous because they are perfect. Left to themselves, no human is inherently good. Instead, a person is considered righteous before God solely by justification through faith in Jesus Christ. This divine legal exchange credits Christ’s perfect goodness to an imperfect person. Righteousness is the starting position, not the final reward.
2. Sanctification: The Process of the Journey
If justification is the starting point, sanctification is the messy, lifelong road that follows. This is where the rhythmic cycle of falling and getting up takes place.
Holiness is not the absence of a struggle. It is a continuous journey of righteousness maintained through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Glorification: God Perfected in Weakness
Life is never about attaining flawless human perfection. It is about persevering through hardships. Through this exact process of endurance, God glorifies Himself. He uses the fruitful, flourishing finish of a broken but persistent life to put His own strength, mercy, and power on display.
Divine Selection: Called, Chosen, and Qualified
The 74-year memoir of Professor Megbolugbe illustrates a vital spiritual law: God’s preparation process for those He selects.
[ God Chooses ] ===> [ God Calls ] ===> [ God Qualifies ]
This qualification does not happen in a vacuum. It happens in the crucible of real-world trials. God uses failures, delays, and restarts as raw training materials to shape the character of His chosen leaders. The falls are not disruptions to the plan—they are central to the preparation.
Wisdom for Modern Humanity
Modern culture is obsessed with instant success, curated perfection, and the elimination of weakness. Professor Megbolugbe’s life stands as a direct, scriptural counter-narrative to this fragile worldview.
Key Lessons for Living Today
A righteous life is built by surviving many failures. By filtering 74 years of rich, lived experience through the timeless truth of Proverbs 24:16, I have discovered that the art of faithful perseverance is simply this: having the faith to stand up just one more time than you fall. My challenge to modern day humanity is to embrace my mindset through faith and trust in the faithfulness and providence of God.
Isaac Megbolugbe, Director of GIVA Ministries International. He is a recipient of Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in business and academia in the United States of America. He is retired professor at Johns Hopkins University and a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He is resident in the United States of America
