BE WISE - TRY AGAIN
Proverbs 24:16
August 11, 2019
What do these people have in common?
Sir James Dyson
Jerry Seinfeld
Theodor Seuss Geisel
Elvis Presley
Michael Jordan
They were all said to have failed. James Dyson failed 5,126 times in his invention of the Dyson bagless vacuum.
Jerry Seinfeld was booed off the stage early in his comedic career.
Theodor Seuss Geisel had his first book rejected 27 times before Dr. Seuss became published.
Elvis was told he had no ability and to get back in his truck and leave.
Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.
Did you know Abraham Lincoln went into the army as a captain and returned as a private? He also lost more elections than he won.
Thomas Edison was told by his teachers he was ‘too stupid to learn anything.’
Walt Disney was told he ‘lacked imagination and had no good ideas.’
Albert Einstein was thought to be mentally handicapped.
Stephen King’s first book, Carrie, was rejected 30 times. And he threw it in the garbage. His wife pulled it out and convinced him not to give up.
Vincent Van Gogh sold just one painting during his lifetime.
Now, that may sound kind of depressing, but the point is that these people and so many others I haven’t mentioned, never gave up. They may have become discouraged, they may have wanted to quit, but they persisted and persevered, even when others were telling them they weren’t capable.
For the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at our words, the words we use when speaking to our family and friends, and to the rest of the world. Today, as we finish our look at the book of Proverbs, gaining wisdom from the words of Solomon, I want to look at what it means to BE WISE in the way we live when the odds seem to be against us. When the world doesn’t give us much hope.
Now remember, awhile ago, I spoke about my definition of failure. Failure means we just give up, we don’t try, we quit. But if you don’t achieve what you worked towards, it doesn’t mean you failed, it simply means you didn’t succeed as much as you hoped for.
I believe we find it too easy to say we failed, and we cast ourselves in a negative light, when that’s definitely not the case.
This is about the importance of being willing to try again, about not giving up. Solomon tells us –
16 For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity. – Proverbs 24:16
Solomon is saying that the difference between a wise man and a fool isn’t determined by how many times he isn’t successful. Because we will all mess up, at times, we will not achieve what we hoped for. But the difference between a wise person and a fool is that the wise person gets up and goes at it again, learning from the past, getting a little better, a little wiser and smarter, maybe more determined.
The fool is the person who makes that one attempt, then gives up. When they stumble, when life doesn’t go the way they want, they tend to throw their arms up in the air and quit.
Sometimes we have to make mistakes and mess up. Sometimes, that’s the only way we learn. Think about a child – when they’re learning to walk. If they quit each time they fell, we would never be walking. It’s the same with riding a bicycle and doing so many things we take for granted.
The best way to try to attain what you desire is to make a commitment to try again and again. Yes, there are times, when we must realize that the activity or even career we’re attempting isn’t right for us, and we need to move on, but that’s not quitting. It’s gaining wisdom of what you can and cannot do. It’s rare that we get the results we hoped for the first time we try something. It takes persistence and dedication to get what you really want. It’s a willingness to try and try again.
If you’re experiencing what you consider repeated failures, the last thing you probably want to hear right now is, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."
You may not want to hear it, but you need to do it.
We’ve all been there. We’ve started diets that weren’t successful and we gave up. We’ve started Bible reading plans and they fizzled. We’ve made New Year’s resolutions that didn’t make it 2 days. We’ve tried exercising and gave that up. We’ve started home projects that never took off. We’ve contemplated job and career changes, but never went through with the application. We’ve all been there!
There are times I have kicked myself at some of the futile efforts I’ve made at some things, but I think . . . OK, you messed that one up! Admit the shortcoming. Admit you messed up, but now try again. Come up with a new game plan that’s doable.
Some of it is being realistic. Sometimes we think we can conquer the world in a day. We say we’re going to pray for an hour a day, or read a chapter of the Bible a day, or exercise for 2 hours a day. When it doesn’t happen we become discouraged and we tend to quit. Be realistic in setting your goals.
Very quickly I want to give you an acronym for goal setting. It’s called - SMART. That’s a great acronym. Our goals should be - - -
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time Sensitive
For example, if I was wanting to start working out, I might say I want to work out. That’s not a real goal. It’s better to give yourself parameters. I want to work out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, for 1 hour each time and I hope to put on 5 pounds of muscle in 3 months, and lose 5 pounds.
That hits each of these items. That’s how we set goals. Each of the 5 items must be met for it to be possible. Our goals must be realistic!!
There have been times when trying again seemed as crazy as hoping for a snowstorm in August, when we might have no reason to believe in ourselves, yet, giving up hope is catamount to total failure. Sometimes, we have to keep on going.
Maybe that’s how you feel. Maybe the odds seem stacked against you right now. You may think ‘you’re a failure,’ there’s no hope for you. Why try again, but we need to look at our situation and if we believe we are to do something realistically, then we need to try again . . . why?
Because God believes in you. In his letter to the church in Philippi, Paul wrote –
6 And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. - Philippians 1:6
To start with, Paul’s telling us he has faith, he is fully confident of what God is going to do!
When you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, something miraculous happened, something which we can’t fully explain. The Spirit of God came into your life and gave life to your spirit. You were, to use a phrase that Jesus used, born again.
God gave you new life, new life in a new way. You were no longer on your own. You now had the God of all creation working from within you.
God began doing His work in you, sometimes it hasn’t been easy. He’s asked you and pushed you to do that which you thought was impossible, yet, with God’s help, you did it. He’s helping perfect you. In this lifetime we have the opportunity, day by day, to become just a little more perfect, a little more Christ-like. So, we can become more and more like Jesus.
So, as Paul tells us God is determined to finish the job He started in you. God knows what you’re capable of doing and becoming. We usually don’t see it in ourselves, but God sees someone amazing. That’s why He knew about you in His heart, because He was creating you before the world was ever created. He knows what you're capable of becoming, whether you recognize it or not.
Do you know the story of McDonald's? The McDonald brothers had 6 small hamburger restaurants. A guy named Ray Kroc, who was a milk shake mixer salesman was impressed with their operation and he believed it could become a nationwide chain of restaurants, delivering fast, affordable, and nutritious food to busy families.
Ray Kroc bought in, began expanding the operation, and in just a few short years he revolutionized the way we eat. He saw the potential of that tiny little hamburger stand, and he made it into what it could be.
In the same way, God sees potential in you. You may be struggling to make ends meet. You may be struggling with sin that you just can't seem to conquer. You may be struggling emotionally, mentally, physically, in whatever way it is, you may be feeling defeated. It may seem impossible for you to become the kind of person you want to become.
But God sees your potential. He believes in you. He knows what you can become. That’s why Paul wrote 2 of my favorite verses. Firstly, Paul wrote - -
12 God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21
Let me tell you that God believes in you so much that He sent His Son into the world to die on the cross for your sins, so that you could be forgiven, so that you could have eternal life, so that you could ultimately become Christ like.
You see what’s so important in this verse is the fact that God sent His sinless Son into the world so that He could take on our sin. When He took on our sin, and we said yes to Jesus, then God, in essence said - - “Great!! Now when I look at you, it’s as if I’m looking at my Son, Jesus.
That’s what the back end of that verse means. God no longer views us as a sinner, but He now looks at you and I as Jesus, beautiful, powerful, and righteous. You see before we came to Jesus, Paul tells us - -
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. – Romans 3:10-11
So, you see, before we came to Jesus nobody was righteous, not one person, because we didn’t seek after God. But now that we have Jesus as Lord and Savior, God now considers us righteous.
The second verse comes from Paul as well, just a few verses earlier. He wrote --
17 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come. – 2 Corinthians 5:17
He’s telling us that if we are in Christ. If we believe in Jesus, then we become a new creation, because the Holy Spirit comes upon us and we change. We become a different person, a better person, a person who now wants to please God first.
That’s supposed to happen. It doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time, really, it takes the rest of our lives, but it’s worth the journey because we become different, and it’s a good different, even if the rest of the world doesn’t fully get it.
God loves you! He died for us!
So, as we struggle with failures, setbacks and defeats, God’s call is to try again. It’s not to give up. Just because someone says something negative, doesn’t mean we quit
That’s part of our testimony to the world, when we get knocked down, for whatever reason - we get back up. When we make mistakes we don’t quit, we own them and we learn from them and we get better.
When we hurt others with sin, we repent and ask for forgiveness. When we do that, God cleanses us and makes us whiter than snow. Friends, God is faithful, He will not abandon you or forsake you, even in the dark times, He is there.
The people in your life need to see Jesus in you. They need the hope that Jesus does make a difference. Your faith and your obedience will make a difference to those around you.
It's your choice, whether you give up or get up. Getting up means you turn your back on those demons who are telling you to quit.
If you refuse to give up in your efforts to speak carefully, to manage money, to resolve conflict peacefully, to do your job with integrity, to trust God completely, to be a loyal and faithful friend — if you keep trying in all these areas, you will succeed. Don’t stop!! Don’t ever quit, because God believes in you.
