Calling: Keeping, Finding, Growing

Failure, My Greatest Friend

Bobby Humes

Today's Scripture: 1 Samuel 4:2-3 NIV

Romans 7:18-20 NIV

For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

Romans 8:20-21 NIV

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

1 Samuel 4:2-3 NIV

The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.”

Isaiah 30:9-10 NIV

For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.

1) WHY DO WE RUN FROM FAILURE?

Genesis 3:8-10 NIV

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

Proverbs 15:32 NIV

Those who disregard discipline despise themselves, but the one who heeds correction gains understanding.

Proverbs 12:1 NIV

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.

Jonah 1:1-3 NIV

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

2) WHAT IF FAILURE WAS AN INCREDIBLE GIFT?

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Isaiah 40:29-31 NIV

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Romans 8:28 NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

3) HOW CAN I LEVERAGE MY MOST RECENT FAILURE?

Psalm 37:5-6 NIV

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV

1 Peter 5:6-7 NIV

4) HOW FAILURE BECOMES A FRIEND

2 Peter 3:9 NIV

Romans 1:1-2 NIV

1 Samuel 6:15-16 NIV

1 Samuel 7:6 NIV

1 Samuel 7:13-16 NIV