HANDLING FAILURES

HANDLING FAILURE

ANCHOR SCRIPTURES :

Judges 20:18-35

And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up first. And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah. And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men. And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day. (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until even, and asked counsel of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And the LORD said, Go up against him.) And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day. And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword. Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. And the children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand. And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah. And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel. And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways. And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baaltamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah. And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was near them. And the LORD smote Benjamin before Israel: and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men: all these drew the sword.

MESSAGE

The way people respond to failures determines whether they will eventually live in victory or not. Failure is not as bad as people paint it to be; it does not signify the end, but it is a signal to try again using a different method. Almost all scientific breakthroughs result from failure. If most scientists became sad and stopped after the first time they failed, they would never have had breakthroughs. Every successful person you see is a product of many failures. If you try today and fail, rise up and try again in a different way. As long as you are sure that what you are doing is in line with the will of God, don’t give up on it; keep trying until you succeed.

In today’s Bible reading, the Israelites asked God if they should go to battle against the Benjamites and if they would win. God told them to fight and that they would win. However, when they got to the battlefield, they were defeated. The question on their minds would have been, “Did God deceive us?” They refused to give up, got themselves together, and went to ask God again if they should return to battle the Benjamites. God told them to go, and once again, the Benjamites defeated them. At that point, giving up would have seemed reasonable; they had already lost 40,000 men, and it looked as if God, the only one they could trust, was deceiving them. If they had given up, they would have been commended for trying, but they did not give up. They went back to God, and this time, they fasted and gave offerings to God. They asked again if they should return to fight the Benjamites, and God said that they should go. They went, and as you read in the story, they used a different strategy and were able to defeat the Benjamites. Don’t give up; your breakthrough is probably just around the corner. Try once again.

When next you encounter failure, ask yourself, why is God letting me go through this?” If you have been consistent with your prayer life and walk with God, ask, “What can I learn from this experience? What is God trying to teach me with this failure? Are there other strategies to achieve my goal?” lf you answer these questions sincerely, you will draw valuable lessons that will help you achieve success the next time you try.

KEY POINT
Failure is only a signal to try again using a different method unless God says otherwise.

Praise The Lord