| (Copyright) by Brenda Branson (Hanson, Kentucky) |
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 How does it feel to fail? You know all too well, don’t you—the sickening feeling in the pit of your stomach when you didn’t live up to your own or someone else’s expectations. You feel foolish and incompetent, discouraged and defeated. Cruel laughter and smug remarks from people who have no confidence in you ring in your ears and drown out the encouragement of well-meaning friends. You can see it in their eyes—an expression of sympathy and disappointment—if they dare to even look at you. You wish a hole in the floor would swallow you up or that you could fade into the wallpapered walls and become invisible. You just want to hide away and lick your wounds alone. When you finally crawl off your couch of despair, you have a fierce determination to never, never feel the debilitating effects of failure again. So, you choose one of the following options: Find someone else to blame! Some people blame God for not intervening to rescue them. They begin to doubt His power and consider Him a failure as well. Others blame their spouse, parents, or significant others. “If you had raised me right, I wouldn’t be in this mess.” “If you hadn’t upset me last night, I wouldn’t have hit you.” “If you were the kind of (spouse, parent, friend) you should be, then I wouldn’t have these problems.” It is much easier to blame someone else than face ourselves in the mirror of reality. Determine to never try again! Many people give in to those self-condemning voices that say, “You idiot! You never do anything right!” In order to avoid future failure, they don’t take any more risks or try anything new. There are other external voices to whom we listen that keep us defeated, and there is the voice of our enemy, Satan, that condemns us and lulls us into apathy. Identify and develop your area of weakness. Try again! This is the best option and the one requiring faith. According to my friend, Boni, we define failure as not getting the results we wanted, while God defines failure as not trying. “What we call failure, God calls learning. Not trying limits our understanding of God’s power. Trying might be tying a knot at the end of your rope and hanging on.” Which option do you usually choose when you fall flat on your face? How can you tell which voice to believe? The list below is a formula from 2 Corinthians 7:10 which will help you discern between the voice of God and the voice of Satan. God Convicts Delivers a specific message: “You told a lie.” Confronts sin Uses pain as a purpose Leads to repentance Results in life and joy Satan Condemns Delivers a vague message: “You can’t do anything right.” Attacks sinner Uses pain to discourage and destroy Leads to resentment Results in death and depression Boni describes God’s conviction as a surgeon’s scalpel which cuts in a specific way for the purpose of healing, while Satan’s condemnation is like slime that covers and smothers your entire being. Another enemy we must face in failure is pride. A proud person says, “My life has been ruined, so God can’t use me anymore.” No, that’s not the voice of a humble servant—it’s false humility. Boni calls this kind of pride “upside down arrogance—pride turned on its head.” When you fail, you can choose to blame someone else, hide from life and indulge in prideful self-pity, listen to other people’s opinion of you, suffocate under the oppression of the enemy, or accept God’s gentle conviction and enabling power to help you move past the failure to another opportunity to grow and learn. Faith responds to failure by saying, “Even though I’ve failed miserably, I will trust in God’s power to restore me to useful service.” God restores you through: Repentance—Are you motivated by a sincere desire to change, or are you just saying the right words to get back the perks of being a “good” person? Teachable Spirit—Are you willing to take an honest look at your areas of weakness and learn how to grow, or are you defensive and arrogant? Connections—Are you involved in a small group with whom you share your heart? Are you being challenged by people who love you, or have you isolated yourself from those who might hold you accountable? Hard Work—Are you willing to do whatever it takes to grow into the person God created you to be or are you resting on your past accomplishments? Opportunities—As you grow, God will give you opportunities to try again, fail again, grow some more, try again, and on and on throughout the cycle of your life. God will empower you with everything you need IF you will take the risk. His gracious love will take the fear out of failure. ——————————————————————– Reprinted with permission from: Broken People https://www.brokenpeople.org/ ——————————————————————– |
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