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Living the Christian life is not easy. There are many potholes and pitfalls along the way. All of us have experienced failure, some more than others. Failure is painful. It comes in all forms. Some fail in business, some in marriage while others in the ministry. Perhaps you expected promotion but it did not come. Perhaps you made an unwise decision on investments or wrong choices in the fork roads of life.
The key question to ask is, how does God view failure - be it moral, ethical, social or relational? From the biblical perspective, one thing is clear. Failure is never final in the plan of God because He is the God of all grace. Our human failure may frustrate God’s purpose but it will never destroy his divine plan. From Romans 8:28 we read: ‘We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose (Amplified Bible). God has always been in the business of restoration and rebuilding broken lives. Let us explore further God’s view of failure and highlight some lessons:
God Understands the Potential in Failure
We must learn to see the potential in failure. In every failure there are seeds of growth and apart from failure we would have little need for his forgiveness (Oliver 1995:74). Paradoxically, it seems to succeed you must fail. To win you must lose; to get you must give. We seem to learn more from failure than success.
Failure makes us aware of our limitations, that we are humans and make mistakes. Failure reminds us we are fallible, fallen and imperfect people. We do not have perfect wisdom (cf Psa 103:14). As long as we live on this planet, failure will be part and parcel of our lives. At the same time, it can serve as a warning sign that we may be in a rut.
Failure also makes us more sensitive to people who have failed. Somehow through failure, our antenna of sympathy becomes more receptive to others. Failure humbles us and reminds us of our need for God. It can increase our confidence and dependence in the One who has called us. It also encourages us to see things from divine perspective. Of course, failure can cripple, crumble or challenge us to work harder and do greater things. When dreams are shattered and hopes crushed, it is time to take stock of our lives.
With failure God gets our attention, which he can’t get under normal circumstances because we seem blind or hard of hearing. As Oliver (1995: 70-71) says:
Failures force us to toss aside the clothing of our past success and accomplishment. When we are stripped naked and laid bare before God, we’re able to see His face and hear His voice with the greatest clarity. Often at such times, when the purifying fire burns the hottest, we have the best potential for the kinds of growth that lead to true maturity.
God Sees Beyond our Failure
God sees beyond our failure because He is greater than all our failure. He can use our failure to accomplish great things. ‘Great sinners make great lovers of God when Jesus gets hold of them. They tend to live with such an overwhelming vision of the greatness and kindness of God that they become the salt of the earth’ (Ensor 1997:105). Somehow, God seems to use mightily those who have gone through trials, sufferings and failures to accomplish greater things. Broken people seem to be more effective and fruitful. John 12:24 says, ‘In very truth I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains that and nothing more; but if it dies, it bears a rich harvest’.
Only God can take Humpty Dumpty and put it together again. He can take people whose marriages are broken, who are bankrupt, embezzlers, cheats, liars, murderers, adulterers and divorcees, and make them whole again. God uses imperfect, immoral and dishonest people who come to him. Why? Because he is God of all grace and is in the business of restoring and rebuilding broken lives. Packer (1973:219-220) says, ‘Our God is a God who not merely restores, but takes up our mistakes and follies into His plan for us and brings good out of them’.
We can find God in the midst of our failure. Do not allow mistakes to become setbacks. Use them as stepping stones. Seek to learn lessons from failures. Not all failures are bad. God’s grace is there to lift you up.
From a Scriptural viewpoint, God can use you again even if you have failed. Failure is never final nor is it the end because God is the God of all grace (2 Pet 5:10). We need to be reminded again that he is not called the God of ‘some’, ‘many’, ‘most’ but ‘all’ grace. That is the incontestable biblical view. The God of all Grace can make our broken lives whole again. We have a God who can do more than we can ever dream or ask.
On the other hand, the unbiblical view is that once you fail you are finished. God can’t use you again! Those who hold this view have a defective theological understanding of God’s grace and forgiveness and must revisit the Bible.
Let us look at some precious promises from God about giving us a second chance. They will help you navigate through many stormy and choppy seas in life. They will sustain and lift you up in difficulty, discouragement and disappointment.
I shall cause the new skin to grow and heal your wounds, says the Lord, although you are called outcast, Zion has forsaken you (Jer 30:17).
It is the Lord who directs a person’s steps; he holds him firm and approves of his conduct. Though he may fall, he will not go headlong, for the Lord grasps him by the hand (Psa 37:23-24).
Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us, but he will heal us, he has wounded us, but he will bind up our wounds; after two days he will revive us, on the third day he will raise us to live in his presence (Hos 6:1-2)
I shall recompense you for the years that the swarmer has eaten, hopper and grub and the locust, my great army which is set against you. You will eat until you are satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God who has done wonderful things for you, and my people will never again be put to shame (Joel 2:25-26).
My enemies do not exult over me. Though I have fallen, I shall rise again; though I live in darkness, the Lord is my light (Micah 7:8)
After your brief suffering, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you on a firm foundation (1 Pet 5:10)
A poignant illustration of God giving us a second chance comes from Jeremiah 18:1-4 where God commanded Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house. There he witnessed a potter working at his wheel using clay to produce a vessel. What was striking was that now and then the vessel of clay would be spoilt due to foreign elements. Instead of throwing away the flawed and unfinished vessel, the potter would remake it to his liking.
What a powerful illustration about the God who gives us a second chance. We matter to God although we may have failed God. Indeed, God gives second chances to people.
In the Bible we read of second chances for Adam, Abraham, Jacob, Solomon, Moses, Elijah, Jonah, David, Samson, Peter and Mark.
King David was an adulterer, murderer, schemer, and cheat. Yet we are told that he ‘served God’s purpose in his own generation’ (Acts 13:36).
In anger, Moses killed an Egyptian and struck the rock for water (Num 20:1-13).
Abraham lied that Sarah was his sister. Yet God used him and he became the ‘father of all nations’.
Samuel was a man of God but failed as a father. Yet God used him to anoint David to be the king of Israel. Samson turned his back on God and lost his sight and ministry. Yet God used him to destroy the Philistines.
Jacob was a liar, cheat and schemer. Yet God used him too. Pastors preach sermons on Jacob’s encounter with God in Peniel as an example of total transformation (Gen 32: 22-32). Yet they fail to notice that his habit of deception resurfaced.
God did not write off these biblical characters because they failed in one way or another. Packer (2000:24) rightly points out the need to ‘remind yourself that your God loves, redeems, pardons, restores, protects, keeps and uses misfits, outsiders and failures no less than beautiful people of the kind that keep crossing your path of whom you have been wishing you were one’. (1525 words)
Discussion Questions