I have been looking at man’s frailty in the Scripture for some time. As I tried to narrow the subject down it just kept expanding. Failure in our life comes in many forms. We experience failure even when we are trying to do the right thing. Some even are overcome by fear of failing so we never get out of our comfort space and enjoy all the blessings that God has waiting for us.
I want to talk about a couple of scriptures in the book of Psalms this week. In the Hebrew language, Psalms was titled Book of Praises. On a side note, if you ever have trouble putting words to your prayer open up the book and start reading. It will definitely help you find your voice.
There were many people in the Bible that were close to God. Many pillars of the faith had their moments where they fell short. Peter, the Rock the church would be built on, denied Jesus three times. Paul the Apostle, who shaped the church with his Epistles, did everything he could to stop the church before he crossed paths with Jesus on the road to Damascus. He murdered every Christian he came across. King David, the apple of God’s eye, killed lions, bears and giants. One day looking somewhere he should not have, caused him to commit adultery, murder and lie to a prophet.
Moses led two million Israelites out of bondage, but he had a temper and was not allowed into the Promised Land. Elijah saw many great works of God. Elijah withheld rain for three years, was fed by ravens, saw a widow’s son resurrected from the dead and called down fire from heaven to defeat the prophets of Bail, basically had a nervous breakdown and he fled to the wilderness. God was already there and encouraged him with a still small voice that he was not alone.
Let’s get back to David. One day he saw Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, bathing from his rooftop, it wasn’t long before they were together and she told David she was with child. After another failure at a cover-up, David had Uriah sent into the hottest position in a battle so that he would surely die. After he received news of his death and Uriah’s wife had time to mourn him, David moved her to his house and she became his wife and bore him a son. Only problem was “The thing David did displeased the Lord.”
Nathan confronted David. He told him a story about a traveler who came to a rich man. The rich man took the only lamb the poor man had and used it to feed the traveler, even though he had fields full of sheep. David was angered by this and said he should die; because he did this with no pity and took the only lamb he had. He then asked for his name so he could be punished. Imagine how he felt when the prophet Nathan bluntly said, “You are the man!” The consequence of his sin was going to be a part of his life forever.
The problem with a lot of teaching today is we changed the word sin with mistake. It just doesn’t ring true. We have softened the result of sin to nobody is perfect, which is true, but is not an excuse for holding onto sin. David at this point owned his transgression and went to the only place he could.
Psalm 37 says when we fall we are not utterly cast down because God is there. David cried out to God for forgiveness and restoration with the Father. Not only is this a record about David’s experience, it foreshadows Israel as they despised the Covenant, turned to idolatry and even led to the murder of the Messiah. This could be the truest prayer of repentance, because it symbolizes the Intercessory work of the Son of David, Jesus.
For us today nothing changes. If we go to God with true repentance he will hear us. Notice every time someone in the Bible fails, God is right there waiting on them to reach out. Failure does not have to be sin, sometimes we are overwhelmed or fall way short of a goal. God is still there waiting to reach down and pick us up.
One time the disciples were at sea and Jesus walked out to the ship on the water. Every one was pretty freaked out, but as soon as Peter knew it was Jesus, he wanted to walk out to him and Jesus told him to come. Just about everyone knows the story how he got his eyes off Jesus and started to sink. He did make it far enough out to where all Jesus had to do was reach out and pull him up, then they both went back to the boat. People often call attention to Peter’s failures, but I ask them if they would have even got out of the boat.
Let’s get back to the present. God never changes, the God of the Old and New Testament still loves us and wants us to be successful in our life to bring glory to the Father. Remember failure is not fatal, but not getting back up can be, and don’t forget getting a little help is okay.
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