DON’T BE AFRAID TO FAIL - GOD IS FAITHFUL TO A HUMBLE
HEART
I remember the day when I discovered I was totally okay
with my own failure. After three days of trying to make a piece of Masonite
look like a piece of maple, I’d run out of ideas. I’d completed hundreds of
wood samples that looked great, so I was shocked with myself when I realized I
just could not do this one. I had to admit failure, and the result was
surprisingly wonderful! In that moment, I was totally set free. I did fail, and
I was actually happy for myself. Odd, yes, and yet this was a deliverance for
me! I was very prideful growing up. Failure was never an option. I was good at
almost anything I tried, and I avoided activities I couldn’t do well. No one
really likes the idea of failing. But sometimes it can be a good thing – a
lifesaver, actually.
Though I’d accepted Jesus as my Lord and confessed my
sins, pride kept popping up in other categories. It’s funny how God can use the
most mundane things in our lives to show us the most important spiritual things
we will ever experience. This incident with the wood sample was one of those
things.
Many of you have experienced similar awakenings. We go
along in our regular life, no real “Las Vegas” moments to speak of, no bells
and whistles, just plodding along, and all of a sudden we’re doing something we
normally do, and God opens an amazing realization about a very big thing in our
lives that we never expected.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that if we are
faithful to seek God and read His life manual, the Bible, He is faithful to us,
to reward us with revelations, insights, and deliverances that we not only
wanted but some we didn’t even know we wanted! A preacher once said: “God can
make taking out the garbage the most exciting thing you’ve ever experienced.”
I‘ve found this to be absolutely true.
The key on our part is to be faithful to Him. Jesus tells
us a parable in Matthew 25 about a man going to a far country who gives his
goods to his servants to take care of while he was away.
“And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and
to another one; to every man according to his several [own] ability; and
straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went
and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
“And likewise he that had received two, he also gained
other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid
his lord's money.
“After a long time, the lord of those servants cometh,
and reckoneth with them.
“And so he that had received five talents came and
brought other five talents, saying, ‘Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five
talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.’ His lord said
unto him, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful
over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the
joy of thy lord.’
“He also that had received two talents came and said,
‘Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other
talents beside them’. His lord said unto him, ‘Well done, good and faithful
servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over
many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.’
“Then he which had received the one talent came and said,
‘Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown,
and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid
thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.’
“His lord answered and said unto him, ‘Thou wicked and
slothful servant’” (Matt. 25:15-24).
The servant that received one talent was afraid of
failure. He didn’t even try, didn’t risk anything, didn’t step out in faith to
gain anything more. He buried what he had. He reminds me of Christians who stop
reading the Bible, stop praying, stop exploring and questing after more of the
Lord’s intimacy in their lives. They bury their desire for Him or get snared by
fear that it might not work, or they may look foolish even trying.
In the above parable, the two servants who were faithful
to do more with what they had, were the ones who were brave enough to step out.
And look what the Lord told them: “Enter into the joy of thy Lord.”
As Christians, we are still human, and we are going to
fail sometimes. But failure isn’t a crime. “As it is written, ‘There is none
righteous, no, not one’” (Rom. 3:10).
We were failures when we came to Jesus the first time and
admitted we weren’t very good at being our own Lord. Don’t be afraid of being a
failure at something. It’s worth a try.
We must pick ourselves up when we fall and continue to
seek the Lord’s guidance. Let’s be like David, who said to God: “Unto thee lift
I up mine eyes” (Ps. 123:1).
Humility is a sweet smell to our God. And pride is a
stinker. Shut it down by going back to the scriptures with a humble heart for
truth.
God is faithful to us. “Know therefore that the Lord thy
God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them
that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations” (Deut. 7:9).
In the New Testament, the Lord promises: “He which hath
begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil.
1:6). And God keeps His promises.
Love, Carolyn
