Failure

Proverbs 24:16 “The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.” NLT

Everything I’ve ever been good at, I’ve had to work extremely hard to conquer. I’m a failure. It’s true. I’ve failed at it all. I wish that my failures had been great learning moments. I wish they hadn’t been so sloppy, so ugly, so dramatic, but the truth is, I didn’t take failure very graciously. When I fail, I fall hard...very hard. Anger, tears, and frustration blow up and threaten to blow away any poor soul that happens to be in my path at that moment. 

That’s why the first day I tried to ride my bicycle on the bike trail was so hard. For starters, it was at the end of June, and it was hot. Strike one. Secondly, there was a little incline coming back. Strike two. Going down it was a breeze, literally, going down hills on a bike is glorious! It’s the coming back up part that stinks. My family had been riding a whole 15 minutes when we decided to turn around and go back to the house. Everything was going okay. I was determined to make it, marking 30 minutes of bike riding down on my activity log. And then I saw the incline (not even really a hill) looming before me. Already sweating, drops trickled in my eyes, and it stung. My legs were like rubber bands, gasping for air, I was determined that I would. not. quit. It wasn’t going to happen. I was going to make it up this hill, and I would be victorious. Half the battle was mental, right? And I was going. to. make. it. But I didn’t make it. I was about 3/4 of the way up when the nausea took over, and it was out of my control. Strike three. There was nothing I could do. I sat there on the side of the bike trail in the tall grass, so frustrated and embarrassed. “How many people saw that,” was the first thing I said to my husband when he got to where I was kneeling. He assured me that it didn’t matter who saw it, but it sure mattered to me! I recovered a little, walked the rest of the way up the hill, and then rode my bike on the flat part of the road back to our house. When would my new strength take over and my weakness end? I had failed. Again.

In these few verses of Proverbs, the writer gives us a bit of wisdom. Everybody fails from time to time. What separates us from others is how we handle that failure. The godly won’t allow a setback to keep them down, while the ungodly only need one difficulty to knock them out. Just like fitness, times will come in our spiritual lives that threaten to knock us down. The test is whether we will get back up and keep going. The writer of Proverbs uses “seven times” in this verse to represent the many times that a person must rebound from difficulties in life. Times like these will come, be sure of that, but we must keep pressing on.

Have you failed yet? I’m sorry to put that question so bluntly, but we sure that it’s going to happen. I’m not saying to go looking for failure, but don’t be so hard on yourself when it does. Embrace the experience, learn all you can, and get back up. 

Encouragement for Today

Psalm 73:26 “My health may fail, and my spirit may grow wek, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.”  NLT

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” NLT