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Dealing with Setbacks, and Failures
Thoughts driving me to Jesus, and His cross.
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. 18 But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18 (NLT2)
We can afford to follow Him to failure. Faith dares to fail. The resurrection and the judgment will demonstrate before all worlds who won and who lost. We can wait.
732 O Jesus! I rest in you.
733 Trust always in your God. He does not lose battles.
I am struggling this morning. It is not failure persay, but to many things are failing.
Some of them are petty, minor computer problems, forgetting to do this or that, struggling through my devotional readings.
Other failings are significant. The health of a couple close friends, the state of few congregations and their pastors, other issues that I am not a liberty to discuss. It is tough not to dwell on these things, to feed into a loop of depression and despair. There are days, like this one, where I struggle to get moving, to get the tasks I need to get done. Especially my devotions, as I am not sure whether to be disappointed at God, mad at Him, or just ignore Him. (see Jeremiah 20:7, 9 which could be my life verse!)
I did anyway and came across Tozer’s words in blue. And I wondered, if we can afford to fail, can we be afford to be in situations that are failing? If we can take something on which most likely will fail and endure it, can we be in a situation where bodies and spirits are failing?
I believe so, and for the same reason. The Judgement awaits! God’s power, which Josemaria tells us to depend upon, will never lose the battle, never mind lost the war. That allows us to rest in Him… that allows us to endure failures and failings, for in Him, those things are promised to work for good, and nothing can ever separate us from Him!
This is the faith of the three men about to head into the furnace–they trusted God, whether they were going to be rescued or charbroiled. They knew the love of God and His promises, and they knew His presence. In that they found the peace that enabled them to know the hope of eternity. And so failure or success was little different in their eyes. They could wait, as Tozer noted, if their deliverance wasn’t in this minute, for it was sure.
As is ours…
So if you have to take a risk, that some might know God’s love, take it, and fear not failure.
And if things are failing, know He is there.. and you can depend on Him…
A. W. Tozer, Tozer for the Christian Leader (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2015).
Escrivá, Josemaría. The Way (p. 129). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
How to Pass the Test of Your Life….
Devotional Thought of the Week:
5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. 2 Corinthians 13:5 (NLT)
Last night, as we looked at the end the book of II Corinthians in our midweek Bible Study. The above verse (in read) really stuck out, really became the focus of the study.
To examine ourselves, to look bluntly at our lives, to understand where we’ve failed, is not easy. Even the way we deal with others hurting us, (or being able to hurt us) can result in our sinning, it can result in our not doing what is right. Examining ourselves isn’t easy, partially because our very nature will take everything to the worse case scenario. We again get it wrong, when we think that examining our lives, our souls, is about beating ourselves up, as if somehow the worse we feel about ourselves the more righteous we are. Or the more we beat ourselves up, the more we’ve atoned for what we’ve done wrong.
It doesn’t work that way, this examining ourselves, this putting our faith to the test.
When I used to teach in the computer information systems introductory course at a community college, one of the question on the final was a pass/fail question. It was a simple question based on the microsoft office program. It asked, “what does the F1 button on your keyboard do?” The answer was simple, it is the HELP button, the button you push when you don’t know what to do, and things aren’t working the way you think they should. There were many other questions on the test – but that one was critical. If my students could remember that, everything else they needed to know was readily at hand. Get that question right – the rest of the test opened up, miss it, and well, you were done.
Life has the same kind of test, according to St Paul. One question, get it right and life opens up, even our mistakes, our errors, our sins can be dealt with, no, it has been dealt with at Jesus’ crucifixion.
The answer to life’s test? Simple – Christ is in you!
Paul talks about it again to the church in Colossae:
26 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. 27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. Colossians 1:26-27 (NLT)
There’s the secret, there is the test. Not to be perfect – for we are simultaneously sinners, yet righteous in Christ. The key to examining ourselves isn’t to beat ourselves up, but to know we need Jesus, and to realize He is here, He is with you, reconciling you to the Father, and then to others.
Christ in you – Christ with you, the very hope we have that the test of life is passed…
Life changes when we know we are welcome in His place… it changes our heart, our mind, our life, our eternity.
The test is that simple…..
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1558-1560). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
