Falling without Failing
George Washington won the Revolutionary war and founded a nation. BUT, the
first president of the United States lost 2/3 of the battles he fought in the war.
Babe Ruth was considered one of the best baseball players of his day. He hit 714
home runs. BUT, he struck out 1,330 times.
Thomas Edison had over 1,000 inventions. BUT, he had 10,000 failures.
THREE INDIVIDUALS THAT FAILED!
The Bible is filled with hundreds of documented failures of some of the greatest
people in the Bible. I could preach for hours on the many failures they suffered
through. Don’t worry, I won’t. I’m just going to touch on 3 or 4 today and how we
can learn from their failures and how they responded to them.
The first one we’re going to look at is the author of our Scripture reading for today,
David. We all know about David. He was just a shepherd boy who was picked for
kingship over all of his brothers. He defeated the giant who had struck fear in the
hearts of everyone else. Every time David went out against an enemy, he returned in
triumph. David was the King of Israel from 1000-962 B.C. His kingdom grew over
the years with each succeeding victory. BUT, David failed when he gave in to lust
and had an affair with Bathsheba and gave orders that resulted in her husband, Uriah
the Hittite, being killed in battle.
David had had all of these great victories. He was a great king, but he was also
human. He was not perfect, therefore, and he ultimately failed at some point in his
life. When confronted of his failing, his humanity, by his court prophet Nathan,
David’s reaction was one of repentance and submission to the judgment of the Lord.
Scripture doesn’t tell us what David was feeling before being brought to task for his
deed. We don’t know if David had any sort of guilt feelings in the back of his mind
or felt any distress for what he had done.
The first three verses of our Scripture show us pattern with which we are all
familiar, a pattern David probably went through in his situation with Bathsheba.
First, we can sense that David was in great distress, but we don’t know what
troubled him. For whatever reason, he was in the “desolate pit”, the “miry bog”.
Second, he cried out to God for help. Then, Thirdly, David “waited patiently for
the Lord”, which indicates that help was a long time in coming. Fourth, God draws
him up out of the desolate pit and set his feet upon the rock. Fifth, God put a new
song in his mouth. Finally, David feels that many will come to trust the Lord when
they see how God has delivered him.
These 3 verses tell us that David expected God’s help and his patience was
rewarded. We can wait with assurance of our deliverance as well, but we must also
learn patience. Our state, just like David’s, can be changed from guilt to pardon;
from corruption to holiness. These three verses also remind me of one of my favorite
hymns, which we just sang. Did you notice the connection?
“Set my feet upon a rock.” A “rock” is a symbol of strength and stability and we are
placed on this same “rock”. “On Christ the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is
sinking sand.”
Now let’s take a look at another who “failed” - Peter. Luke 22:34 tells us that one
of Peter’s instances of failure was foretold. There, it says, Jesus answered, "I tell
you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know
me." Now knowing Peter, I am sure that he viewed this prophecy of Christ as being
silly. Peter was confident of the fact that he would not fail.
Jesus prayed for Peter but He did not pray for Peter to be delivered from this trial of
his faith. He did not ask for Peter to be delivered from the fault of overconfidence,
from the sin of pride. Jesus also did not ask that Peter would not fail. But Jesus did
ask that Peter’s faith would not fail.
Peter took some steps to overcome failure. What were they?
(1). Peter accepted his failure, for the Bible says he went outside and wept bitterly
(Luke 22:62).
(2). Peter knew that Jesus was praying for him - He is also praying for us - 1 John
2:1-2 tells us, "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if
anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense-- Jesus
Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for
ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” We think Perry Mason was a great
defense lawyer but JESUS speaks in our defense. Who could do it better?
(3). Peter was anxious to see Christ. On hearing that Jesus had risen, Peter got up
and ran to the tomb. We must also be anxious to see Him, especially after a failure.
(4). Peter used to believe in himself but he had to learn to trust the Holy Spirit. We
also must quit believing in ourselves and begin learning to trust the Holy Spirit to
guide us. It is one thing to have self-confidence, but another to become
over-confident or so filled with pride at our own supposed inability to fail or to sin.
Too often, we lean to our own understanding, rather than acknowledging the Lord’s
will in all our ways.
The failure of Judas. Scripture records the failure of another of the disciples,
Judas. Now where David and Peter are known for overcoming their failures, and
becoming a great men of God, Judas is known for being overcome by his failure.
Now I am sure Judas was just as sorry for his wrong actions, for his failure, as
David and Peter were. But there was a great difference in the way Judas dealt with
his failure.
Judas tried to undo his failure, but he did it in his own way. Matthew 27:5 says, “So
Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged
himself.” He tried to deal with his failure himself, without allowing God to have a
part, resulting in an even bigger failure on his part.
We can’t undo our failures; if we try to do so without God’s help, our fall could be
as complete as that of Judas.
What can we learn from George Washington, Babe Ruth, and Thomas Edison?
What can we learn from David and Peter? And Joshua and Samson and Paul and
Thomas and on and on? What can we learn from Judas?
The absolute, most important thing I think we can learn is:
Failure is only temporary. Giving up is what makes it permanent.
All of those mentioned stumbled and fell. None of them were successful 100% of
the time. They fell (as we can) without failing (as we can).
David fell in his affair with Bathsheba, BUT, he repented and God helped him up.
Peter fell when he denied Jesus, BUT, he accepted it, Jesus spoke in his defense and
God helped him up.
Judas fell, BUT, tried to get up without God’s help, and never made it to his feet.
We can fall, BUT, following the examples we have been given, we can repent, cry
out to the Lord, and wait patiently for His hand to lift us to our feet.
But maybe you feel that, even with God’s hand helping you up, maybe even
supporting you, you can’t stand. Maybe you feel you have failed so miserably that
you will never get to your feet. If you feel this way, I would like to close and ask
you to listen closely to a well-known poem.
Footprints
One night a man had a dream.
He dreamed he was walking across the beach with the Lord.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
one belonging to him,
and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path of his life
there was only one set of footprints.
he also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it.
"Lord, You said that once I decided to follow You,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most You would leave me."
The Lord replied,
"My son, my precious child, I love you and would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."
Let us pray:
O, God, we know that you will never leave us. You are the shade at our right hand.
No matter how far down we sink into the miry bog and desolate pit, you are
reaching your hand out to us to lift us up and set us on the rock. All we need to do is
ask. Thank you, God, that we can always cry out to you for help and you will
answer. Thank you, God, that we can fall without failing because you are our God.
Thank you, God, that you love us enough to even carry us when we simply can’t
struggle to our feet. Amen.
