FAILURE – Detour or Dead End?

Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again. (Proverbs 24:16)

We all fail. Failing is simply part of the life we live as broken people living with other broken people in a broken world. However, failure is merely a detour, not a dead end, as the esteemed Christian businessman Zig Ziglar was fond of saying. Do you agree with that statement? Is failure a detour or a dead end in your life today?

With God on your side, failure is never final. You may fall seven times; get up eight times! Failure is never final unless you fail to get up. We all fail — some of us fail many times — but we are not failures. Every failure turned over to God is nothing more than a detour on His preordained path for us to to live for His glory and the good of others. But if we let the wicked whispers of the devil permeate our minds, we can fall into the trap of allowing failure to become a stopping point — a dead end.

But this is not for you! In the nail-scarred hands of Jesus, every failure is simply a setback that is setting up your comeback. Jesus will use every misstep, mistake, failure, falling, shortcoming, and sin to grow and mature us in our faith. He told us that we would encounter trouble along the way to glory, and He also promised that we would get to the other side of each trouble in His strength and in His timing. When we read about the saints of God in the Bible, we see that they all failed over and over and over again. But God used each failure to strengthen their faith and grow them into the person He was calling them to be. Can the same be said for you and me? Are we standing up again after we fall and reaching out to take God’s hand?

Remember, if you think of your failures as a test, you need only get back up to pass that test! Then that test becomes your testimony to share with those who are going through similar trials and challenges in life. Christian, keep Romans 8:28 in mind and hold fast to the truth that God is working all things together for your good and His glory. Do that, and you will be a living example of one who sees failure as nothing more than a detour — never a dead end.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!