Facing Failure (Part Two) by Bob Reinhart

Last week we talked about two things God had to say about handling failure. This week we are going to finish our discussion and talk about two more things God says about handling failure.

God says He will use failure for our benefit.

Most of us don’t usually think of failure as a beneficial experience. But do you know that God uses failure to change us? God is not content to leave us the way He finds us, because we are all screwed up. God is committed to making us perfect, and He often uses failure to do that. I would like to give you three common ways He does that.

FIRST WAY - God uses our failures is to draw us to His WORD. Take a look at Psalm 119:71

“My suffering was good for me. It taught me to pay attention to your decrees.” Psalm 119:71

God’s decrees are found in His WORD. But unfortunately a lot of Christians don’t pay much attention to the WORD. When life is good and things are going well, it becomes a low priority. And when that is the case, God will often use failure to bring us back to His WORD.

SECOND WAY - God uses failure is to eliminate our defects. Most of us are satisfied with the “Status Quo” — we like things the way they are. And we don’t make changes until we feel some heat. Take a look at Proverbs 20:30.

“Sometimes it takes a painful situation to change our ways” Proverbs 20:30

Let me give you an example. I came across a story about a man who lost his job. It was a job he have had for a long time, and it had became his confidence. So for all intents and purposes it was an idol. He forgot that God gave the job in the first place. Well, unfortunately he lost the job. And it was through counseling, that he was able to see that his job was an idol. That changed his thinking, and he started depending on God. He’s still unemployed, but God is providing for him in the meantime.

THIRD WAY - God uses failure is to change our character. Take a look at Romans 5:3-4 in your notes.

“We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials for we know that they are good for us. They develop strength of character.”Romans 5:3-4

So how do problems and trials develop strength of character? Let me use you as an hypothetical example. Let’s say you are a successful person. You very seldom fail. Everything you do turns out well. You have everything you want. And as a result you have become pompous and self absorbed. And that’s when God says, “I can’t continue to let you go the way you are going.” I want to change your character, so I am going to use some adversity to get your attention.” And so He does. Now even though I just made that up, I have seen that same situation many times.

Another thing God says about failure is He will always forgive us.

God is never surprised when we fail. He knows it’s going to happen, because He knows how we are built. Take a look at Psalm 103:14.

“God knows what we’re made of. He remembers that we are dust.” Psalm 103:14

But this doesn’t change His love for us. He loves us in spite of who we are. That’s called grace. God knows how we’re wired. He knows we’re frail human beings. He doesn’t expect us to be perfect. And He doesn’t stop loving us. This is a hard concept to accept, because most of us have a performance driven mentality. We’ve been taught that success means, “I’m valuable. I’m worthwhile. I’m significant.” But failure means, “I’m worthless and insignificant.” However, this idea of worth being connected to performance is a big lie. Our value has nothing to do with performance. It all has to do with what God says about us. He says, “I love you – period!” “And it’s not dependent upon what you do”.

OK let’s review some facts about how God feels about us. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more than He does right now. There is nothing you can do to make Him love you any less. And this is true even though we fail all the time. We all have certain sins we struggle with. It may be our temper. It may be our words. It may be lust. It may be impatience. It could be lots of different things.

But whatever they are – here’s what happens: When we blow it, we go to God and say, “God, I’m so sorry.” “Please forgive me.” And of course God does. And then we blow it again. And we go back and say, “God, I did it again.” “I’m sorry. Once again I ask for forgiveness and cleansing.” God says, “OK”.

But the sin keeps coming back. And we keep going to God over and over with the same sin. “I’m really sorry. Please forgive me again and again and again.” And each time God says, “Yes, yes, yes, I forgive you.” But we finally get to the point where we’re so ashamed, we don’t want to go back to God anymore. So we stop. We can see God sitting on the throne and saying, “The same ones? “Again?” Can’t you think of any new sins to do?

Let me tell you a couple of things about habitual sin. First of all God never gets tired of forgiving us. He will forgive us 5 times, 50 times, fifteen hundred times a day if necessary..God will never stop, because it’s His nature to be forgiving. Take a look at 1John 1:8-10. Notice there is no limit on God’s forgiveness.

“If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.” 1 John 1:8-10

The second thing about habitual sin we have to understand is we can only make progress if we get into an accountability group. What! An accountability group? “No way!” “I not going to tell anybody about my secret sins.” But that’s what the Bible tells us to do. Take a look at James 5:16.

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” James 5:16

The truth is you don’t have the power to change. If you did you would have used it a long time ago. But God says you can change if you confess your sins to another person and let them to pray for you. There is great power in that, and it works. So what it comes down to is we need to trust God and His grace. We have to believe God when He says He will forgive us every time. We have to believe God when He says get into an accountability group and you will be healed. We have to believe God when He says He will use our failures for good.

Let me ask you. Where are you failing today? Is it your marriage? Your career? Your finances? Is it a personal failure? Is it a moral failure? Where are you failing? Whatever it is let me give you some good news: God will forgive you, and He doesn’t get tired of doing it. And He will help you change. But first you have to do business with Him. You have to own up to your failure. You have to call it what it is. You have to admit it. You have to confess it. David said it like this in Psalm 32:5.

“I let it all out. I said, `I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to God.’ Suddenly the pressure was gone – my guilt dissolved, and my sin disappeared.” Psalm 32:5

Some of you may think you’ve had so much failure in your life that God has rejected you, and it’s over. If you feel that way let me say, you don’t understand God’s grace. The Bible is full of examples of failures that God has used. Abraham failed in most areas of his life. Isaac failed with his kids. Moses failed to control his anger and killed someone. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband murdered. But God still used all these people in powerful ways.

Thank God that He uses failures. If God only used perfect people, what would get done in this world? Nothing, because there are no perfect people. We are all imperfect and God uses us anyway. I don’t care what failure you’ve gone through in the past. I don’t care which one you’re going through right now. It doesn’t change God’s purpose for you. It doesn’t change God’s plan for you. It doesn’t prevent God from using you. And it doesn’t change His love for you…………………….