The Pothole of Failure....

Living with a "Broken Spirit"

If you are living in this world and are not acquainted with failure, then I must question you and ask...."Are you really living at all?" Let's be honest, we all have failed. In fact, the Bible tells us in Isaiah 53:6,"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" OR as I would paraphrase, "We have all failed to live as God intended, doing our own thing and hoping He would approve; but because of our disobedience, God has punished His own Son for our failures and He has borne the weight of our sin so that we might be declared righteous before a Holy God."

Now that's failure on a spiritual level; but what about the failure that comes into our lives and often paralyzes us so that we cannot move forward.

Like the pothole of failure when we marry the love of our life and after 25+ years of what we assume is wedded bliss, our partner walks out the door without so much as a goodbye or thank you for the years you've spent together...and you are overcome by the enormous feeling of failure.

Or what about that business you started in your youth. You poured all your time, energy and money into building a successful company and in so doing, neglected so much of your life and its other responsibilities...then, in a  twinkling of an eye, it all come crumbling down, as you file  for bankruptcy and have to begin life again in your twilight years....WHAM...SLAM... BAM...as you ricochet from the direct hit in the pothole of failure.

Then of course there is the loss of your physical health and the failure that you feel every time you look into a mirror. Gone is that handsome, debonair young man or that gorgeously-striking, young woman. Now you find yourself staring at a image of someone that remotely resembles the person you used to be...One hundred pounds overweight, losing hair, wrinkles upon wrinkles,  poor health and this terrible feeling that you failed to live up to the potential that you had as a younger adult...and no matter how you try, the failure of losing your health and your youth trap you into believing that life might as well be over.

But how does God view failure?

I believe God sees failure as the human condition...since the first bite of the apple and the curse of sorrow, pain and endless toil to exist, God knew that man would strive to succeed, but in his own strength, man is destined to fail. Don't believe me...consider Peter, and the testimony of this ardent follower of Christ. He traveled almost all the way to the cross with his Master...devoted, loyal and ready to fight to save Jesus; however, when Jesus needed Peter to be the "Rock" and stand firm, what did Peter do?

Why not come back tomorrow for the conclusion to

The Pothole of Failure...you will be blest!!!!

Blessed Not By Success...Blessed by His Rest,

WPQ