Don’t Fear Failure
Key Verse to Read and Treasure
The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand. (Psalm 37:23-24, NLT)
For Insight
It was the great Poet, Theologian, and Philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”
Some people live in such fear of failing they never get started. Maybe they have heard for most of their life that they would never amount to anything or that they are nothing but a failure. Words like that, received over and over can have a tremendous impact on us. We begin to believe what we hear is true and start to think of ourselves as a failure, incapable of becoming something or achieving anything worth while. The world has missed the talents of many great people who had much to contribute but never believed in themselves or were made to feel they needn’t try because they would only fail.
As we look back over our lives, we don’t always feel good about everything. There are things we hoped to accomplish that never came about. Some things have turned out differently than we hoped: maybe we hoped our marriage would go well but instead ended in divorce, or all the effort and energy put into raising our children didn’t work out the way we planned and they have chosen lifestyles that disappoint us. We might have spent years studying in a particular field, planning and hoping to secure work and be successful, but find ourselves doing something totally different. On and on we could go. When we tally them, our failures might be as high as the heavens.
Every one of us could compile our own list of things we feel we have failed at. And if we are honest, we will have to accept that failing at something, somewhere along the road of life is inevitable. God does not want us to be devastated or give up just because we fail at something. What He does come to remind us is, when our eyes are focused on our own failures then we have lost sight of Christ, the only One who is able with his grace to transform our failures into blessing and victories.
When we stop beating ourselves up about our failures and place them in the Lord’s hands, we can see how his amazing promise is also true for us, that He will “work all things”—including our failures—”together for good” (Romans 8:28). And how many times it was our failure that led to our “better”?
With Christ and in God’s hands our failures do not have to define our future, be our ending, or describe who we are. We can move on from our failures to begin again and when we turn our eyes heaven ward, we can be refreshed and strengthened, and even forget our past.
Praying Psalm 37:23-24
Lord, sometimes we stumble, sometimes we do fail. Failing in this life should not make us want to give up but at times we do. May we keep our eyes on Christ Jesus because in and through Him we can begin again. We will not believe the misguided counsel of the enemy but trust in Your promises which are perfect and true. Amen
Prayer Challenge
Is there any failure you need to release to the Lord so you can move on and rebuild or enjoy life again?
Digging Deeper
Devotionally Yours 