In The Face Of Failure I Need To Be Reminded Of My True Strength

I was proud of the fact that I had developed a very strong immune system. It hadn't always been that way. For a long time I would catch every bug that was around. It seemed that I just had to walk past a sick person and I would catch it. I knew exactly which times of the year I would catch a cold, and I would have at least two per year. But I worked hard to improve my immune system.

I ate the sort of foods that would strengthen my system and I exercised. I had realized that by not looking after myself I was being selfish, robbing my Lord and my family from a healthy version of me. As a result, in the last five years I haven't been sick once. There have been times when I could feel the cold virus coming on but my immune system fought it off. Imagine then how shocked I was yesterday to find myself immobilized by a flu virus.

Besides feeling like I was hit by a dozen trucks, I felt defeated. I was violently sick. I could barely breathe let alone move or think. I am not a person who vomits easily but I had lots of practice yesterday. I felt like a failure. I missed important meetings and I was no support to my wife and children at all.

Today, the illness is gone and I am simply trying to regain my strength. So what scripture should I read as I open my Bible this morning?

No king is saved by the multitude of an army;
A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
A horse is a vain hope for safety;
Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. ((Psalm 33:16-17)

A mighty man is not delivered by his great immune system. Of course it is not just about my immune system but is a foundational reminder that my strength is found in the Lord, not in myself. All strength in this world is going to fail at some point. We can do everything right and we will still fail. Our intellect will fail us, as will our health, so to our wealth. Relationships will fail as will our jobs and anything else we consider something to build our life foundation on. There is only one strength that will never fail us and that is Jesus.

A recurring lesson from Scripture is that Yahweh is searching the earth for those who are loyal to him so that he can glorify himself through them:

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,On those who hope in His mercy, 
To deliver their soul from death,
And to keep them alive in famine. (vv. 18-19)

We need to guard our attitude towards Jesus, that he remains the only one we lean on. He told us that if we build our life on him, our house will stand because all other foundations are as weak as sand. It doesn't matter how strong those relationships, finances, jobs, or immune systems look right now, they will fail you, but Jesus never will. That is our strength, our confidence, our joy.

I had no right to feel defeated yesterday. An imperfect thing failed yesterday even though I had done all the right things. However, Jesus didn't fail me. He didn't walk away in disgust. He sustained me yesterday so that he was my first thought upon waking this morning. And he was right here with me now to teach me something of which I needed reminding. It is in Jesus I trust, nothing else. He is my strength, hope, and song:

Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
For our heart shall rejoice in Him,
Because we have trusted in His holy name. (vv. 20-21)

All else will fail, but Jesus never will. I trust in his holy name.

Handling The Stress Of Failure

Have you ever been in a leadership position? If you have then you know that being a leader is not all fun, glory and power. The leader is not some boss who sits back and tells other people what to do. The boss facilitates the success of others so he too becomes a success. When it all goes wrong there is no one else to blame but the boss, because even if the failure was by people under him, he is still to blame because he did not support, encourage and equip as he should have. A good boss feels and takes on the failures of those for whom he is responsible.

The interesting thing is how good bosses handle failure. A great example of a somewhat brilliant leader is David, even before he was king. The part I want us to consider is when David was in exile in Palestine with his mighty men. To get away from the deranged king Saul they had sought refuge in their enemy's camp. One day, while they had been away from their settlement, the army of another enemy had come in, destroyed their town and left with their women and children. This came as a complete shock to this group who had never experienced defeat.

David was the leader so their sorrow and frustration were focused on him. He was under pressure and he could feel it, at the same time he is trying to deal with his own loss. So does he resign? Does he walk away? Does he become so stressed that he is of no use? Does he make foolish decisions? Does he shrug his shoulders and accept the loss? Let's pick it up here:

Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. (1 Samuel 30:6)

David did the only thing he knew how to do, he sought strength in his relationship with Yahweh. Not only did he seek strength but he sought counsel as well. He inquired of the LORD what he should do and he received this instruction:

“Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.” (v. 8)

David rallied his men and they went after the army that had come against them. They went into the enemy's camp and took back what was theirs. David went into the battle, against a large enemy with only 400 men and he destroyed the enemy, except for 400 who escaped on camels. This was not because David was a brilliant leader but because he was an obedient servant of Yahweh.

The thing that David did right as a leader is the same thing we are instructed to do every day, leader or not: We are to strengthen ourselves in our relationship with Jesus and be obedient to his instructions. The thing is not to quit. There are no lessons but defeat in quitting. It looked like David and his men were defeated but thankfully those mighty men were following a man who was following the LORD. David did not accept defeat and sought out the will of his God.

There is nothing too big for Yahweh. There is no obstacle that he cannot remove. There is no enemy he cannot defeat. There is nothing he cannot do. What is impossible for man is an easy matter for the Creator of all things. We cannot afford to forget who we serve. David went from a fugitive hiding in the enemy's camp to king over Yahweh's nation. What looks like defeat to you today is a trivial matter compared to the plans of our LORD. We have to show ourselves trustworthy with the small things, including defeats, in order to move on to the greater things.

These two things you should never forget. No matter what you are facing, no matter the stress and pressure, never quit. Instead, do these two things: strengthen yourself in your relationship with Jesus and seek his counsel. Trust the LORD in all things and he will see you through.

Failing To Fully Possess What Has Been Promised

Too many of us are not fully possessing what Jesus intended for us to possess. We have been offered the fullness of Christ and instead we satisfy ourselves with a few crumbs. We are repeating exactly what the Israelites did when they were offered the Promised Land. They never fully possessed it. Some of the tribes took what was given to them but others never did. Even the tribes that did take their possession did not flush out and destroy the other nations like they were instructed to do. And it came to pass exactly what Yahweh warned them would happen, that if they left any of those he sent them to destroy, they would be influenced to turn to other gods.

It's difficult for us to image what Israel could have been and how Yahweh would have been glorified, if only Israel had obeyed:

Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting there. And the land was subdued before them. But there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance.

Then Joshua said to the children of Israel: “How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?" (Joshua 18:1-3)

How long will we neglect to possess all that Jesus has promised us? When he saved us he made us a new creation; no longer bound to this place; no longer bound to sin; no longer bound to the systems of man; no longer bound to the patterns of this world, we were set free to be fully possessed by the Holy Spirit, to be filled by the power of Jesus Christ, the resurrection power, free to be fully obedient to our Father's will. But we have failed.

We have failed to allow our love for the things of this world to die. We have allowed things to keep residence. We have allowed strongholds to remain and we still sacrifice at the high places. These things continue to pollute us, to influence our heart and mind. They drain goodness from us and cause us to have a divided loyalty. We want friendship with the world and friendship with Jesus, but it doesn't work that way.

To be fully possessed means to have one Master, one Lord, one King. To be fully possessed is to be fully committed to walking in Jesus' footsteps, to doing the Father's will, to obeying the Holy Spirit. It is a commitment to live by the Word of Yahweh and not by opinion. It is a full denial of yourself and a complete acceptance of Yahweh's wisdom.

We are serving in a half measure and expecting full benefits. But there is not half anything in the Kingdom; no half measure, half effort, half hearted, half minded. It is all or nothing:

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. (Matthew 10:37-38)

I am not exactly sure when or why we lost it but we did. We have allowed the world to possess more of us than we have in the last 100 years. Holiness is almost forgotten as we join in with a society that only lives to be entertained. We are failing to live the powerful godly lives that Jesus saved us to live for his glory, and I am convinced that the only way we can change it is if we encourage each other to turn and seek the face of Yahweh, the presence of our LORD. We need to make the decision to vanquish the strongholds in our lives and place Jesus solidly on the throne, with no hesitation and with all our heart. We need to seek purity in our lives once more that we would be available to be used by our King, to bring salvation to the land and glory to his name.

Say no to being entertained by the sins of this world and yes to serving Jesus with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength. Jesus must be our everything.