September 14

“No one knows how to help you in your times of failure as Jesus does!  He will not overlook your shortcoming or simply encourage you to do better the next time.  He will give you victory in the midst of your failure.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 9/9

How many times do we run to our friends when we experience a failure looking to be comforted or encouraged?  Or the times we talk about our failures to others so that we can feel vindicated when they overlook it as though it never happened?  Neither of these do anything to turn our failures into something useful.  It merely allows us to feel sorry for ourselves or shift the blame.  Someone has said that we should see our failures as stepping-stones.  I like this imagery, but we can get lost even on that path if the stones do not lead us to God.  We must think of failures as opportunities to learn more about ourselves, but more importantly, to learn more about our God.  It is in our failures that God’s power and strength can come forth and when it does we are guaranteed victory.  Blackaby concludes his devotional with these encouraging words:  “If you have recently experienced failure, you may be on the brink of receiving a profound revelation from God!”  This is why we can “count it all joy!” because if God never fails, how can we then be failures?

“It is the LORD who goes before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you or forsake you; do not fear or be dismayed.”  Deuteronomy 31:8