Have you ever let a harsh word escape your lips, perhaps in an argument or animated discussion, and the moment you say it, you think, oops ... yet it’s now out there? In the emotion of the moment, you can’t process fast enough to backtrack. Instead, you barrel through to the end, spikes extended, hoping to feel vindicated at coming out on top.
You may win the argument, but you lose something in the process. Faith, trust, companionship … and what it costs soon begins to feel like a steep price to bear. You know there’s only one recourse, and that’s to apologize and try to correct the damage you caused. In the best of relationships, your partner, spouse, or coworker will understand, be gracious, and let the stumble go. They will accept the situation as a glitch in a good relationship, forgive, and move for-ward from there.
Failure is only failure if we let it be. God says he is faithful even when we fall flat on our faces and are too embarrassed to raise our heads to face him. He wants us to reach out to him. His forgiveness is part of his unbreakable love, and he’s ready to let it flow over and cover every mistake we make.
Let's look at 2 Timothy 2:13:
“If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”
David, the biblical king, is known as a man after God’s own heart. Yet, David murdered, committed adultery, and was often filled with pride. Here’s what made the difference in David’s relationship with God: David repented, and God forgave him. Every. Time.
Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, a heinous act against a sibling. God chose to use their betrayal to vault Joseph into power in the Egyptian kingdom. Joseph, acting through the forgiving nature of God, forgave them, saving them from famine as he invited them into the bounty of the king’s household.
Sampson had everything. This is the man who killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. Yet, he sacrificed his place in the hierarchy of Israel for the arms of a deceitful woman and lost everything, including his eyesight. Yet, he repented, and God returned his strength to him; and in the last moments of his life, Sampson killed more of the enemy than he had during all the years before.
Rahab. As a prostitute, she had a reputation in the city of Jericho. By anyone’s measure, she was not a good girl. Yet, she believed in the God of the Israelites, helped the two spies sent by Joshua, and received God’s protection when the time came to exact divine retribution upon the city.
Even someone especially close to Jesus, Peter, denied him three times. Jesus even knew he would do it and told him so. Yet, Jesus shared his prediction with compassion and love rather than indignation and accusation. Peter immediately repented and became a powerful leader of the early church.
Then there were those in the biblical narrative that “failed forward.” They failed, but through God’s unbreakable love, they received his forgiveness and went on to do wonders in his name.
Jonah is known more for his failure than his astounding successes. Yet, when Jonah repented of his disobedience, God was faithful through his failure and used Jonah to redeem an entire city.
Jacob, one of our biblical heroes … he lied and connived to get his way; and yet, God blessed him by making his sons into the twelve tribes of Israel. Why? Because God is faithful even when we stumble.
We’ve yet to cover Abraham who was too old to have children and Sarah who was barren. They felt like failures, but God saw them as ripe for success in his plan.
Moses had a speech impediment. It was a flaw he felt to be insurmountable. He had also killed an Egyptian and considered himself an outcast of his people. God told him, “You, Moses, are the one I choose. Your failures are of no consequence in my plan. I will be faithful to my call on your life no matter the failures you have endured.”
What do you consider to be your ultimate failure? Is it something you failed to do, something you bungled, or something that you feel is so intrinsically wrong with you that it prevents you from achieving God’s best for your life? Whatever it is, God brushes his hand across your past and, like an eraser, it’s all gone. God wants you to hear him say this: “I am the faithful one. You may have failed in your eyes, but I see what you can become. Join me and see what I intend to make of your life.”
God is faithful through our failures.
Every time.
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