Calvary's touch Encourages You: Growing through Failure-Part 2.

Growing Through Failure-Part 2

* Practical ways to Recover from Failure (Continued from last week):

* Focus: Replace blaming yourself with claiming God's Grace.
* Security: Count on the Lord's Constant Understanding and Complete Forgiveness. When the things we count on for security fail- such as a job, a relationship, a life's dream- our whole world seems to crumble with them. David points us to the only kind of security that will never let us down. Ps. 103: 13-14.

Much of our discouragement in failure comes from focussing on people. We tend to base our security on whether or not others will accept us and that acceptance, we feel, is usually based on our performance. When we succeed, we believe we are loved and wanted; but when we fail, we have to get back up to a certain level of performance before we feel accepted again. Unfortunately, this is the type of insecurity many of us live with. But with God, there is always constant understanding and complete forgiveness. He already knows our hearts, our motives, our worst failings, and yet He continues to love us.

* Perspective: Refuse to compare yourself with any other person. When failure hits, one of the first casualties is our perspective. In Ps. 103: 15-18, David contrasts man with God and offers insight into how we can hold on to the right perspective. One of the things we are tempted to do when we fail is to compare ourselves with others, which only increases our despair and self-pity. We look at the neighbor who's never lost his job; we look at others who seem further along in their maturity. And the longer we look, the more distorted our perspective becomes concerning our problems. But David reminds us that people come and go like short-lived flowers and that the Lord's loving-kindness is everlasting. It's His judgement and His perspective that count.

* Morale: Continue to Obey the Lord. David began by telling himself to focus on the Lord. Now he concludes by broadening his admonition to include even the angels. Ps. 103: 19-22. David delclares that God is sovereign over all, and this leads him to exhort all angels to bless and obey the Lord- the same exhortation that all of us need, especially when we fail. For failure can be a powerful enemy to our morale and rather than telling ourselves, like David, to bless and obey the Lord, we may begin saying, "Why try again? I'll never be able to pull things back together."
In the aftermath of failure, it is easy to forget that God's sovereignty means that He is in control and can bring good even out of our failures... if we continue to obey!

* Succinct Lessons to Affect Tomorrow: We can glean at least two practical helps from our study of Psalm 103.

* Control Your Expectations: We set ourselves up for failure when we stack our expectations too high. Be sure, as you set your goals, that you leave yourself some room to fail, to be human.

* Leave Results with God: Colossians 3:23 says, " Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men." We're to give life all we've got, but also to leave the results in God's hands. What may appear as a failure from our limited viewpoint may in fact be God's way of bringing about something good. Even Christ looked like a failure when He hung on the cross. But it was through that crushing experience that our very salvation was secured (Isaiah 53).

* Some Final Thoughts. Many of us have experienced the crippling effects of being hit by failure. All kidding aside, it can be completely shattering, and many never recover. But even when we think we've been flattened by a bus, God is ready and waiting to pick us up and teach us to walk again. Failure can be a deterrent or an opportunity for growth. Which will it be for you? Be encouraged.

********************Letter # 21 (27.5.2001)**************************