FAILURE IS NOT FINAL

FAILURE IS NOT FINAL

Text: 1 Chronicles 13:1-12
Memory verse:
”“For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And that its tender shoots will not cease.“ (Job‬ ‭14‬:‭7‬)
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Do you know that entrepreneurs almost never get their first business off the ground? Or their second, even third business? Research shows that the average for entrepreneurs is 3.8 failures before they finally make it in business. One thing that is common with successful entrepreneurs is that they never get discouraged by their problems, mistakes, miscalculations, wrong decisions, or errors. They see them as mere setbacks and not as failures. They recognize that three steps forward and two steps back still equals one step forward.
Whether you miscalculated figures, missed a deadline, blew a deal, made a poor choice concerning your family, fumbled on the field, or made a mistake in the examination, it’s a setback and not your final.
David, the model king of Israel and ‘a man after God’s own heart’, with his success record, still acted wrongly sometimes. According to our text, convinced that the ark of God should be brought back from Kiriath-jearim where it had been left under Saul’s reign, David consulted with the people and gained their support. However, he made a costly mistake by not seeking from the Lord about how to carry the ark. As a result of neglect, forgetfulness, or assumption, the project became a tragedy as the Lord struck Uzzah dead when he touched the ark. Out of anger and fear, David abandoned the project.
Most of us experience such painful setbacks, which often lead to serious discouragement. It can also tempt us to abandon our project if we don’t respond to it appropriately as sudden setbacks create fear and doubt.
How did David handle the setback?
David went back to reflect on the tragedy and to find out what they did wrongly. Having discovered the cause of the problem, he returned the second time, did the right thing, and eventually, the ark was successfully delivered. “Because you Levites did not carry the Ark the first time, the anger of the LORD our God burst out against us. We failed to ask God how to move it properly.” (1Chr 15:13 NLT).
Friends, never see failure as final but as a setback. Instead of abandoning your project, find out the process that you neglected and return to correct it. A Chinese proverb corroborates it thus, “Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up”. I see you rising up again! Hallelujah!

Prayer points
1. Father, please open my eyes to what I did wrongly, which brought my setback in Jesus’ name.
2. I come against fear and discouragement, and I refuse to abandon my project in Jesus’ name.

Today’s declarations
1. I will never see any failure as my final but mere setback.
2. I am not discouraged because I believe that three steps forward and two steps back still equals one step forward.

Contact: pastor@thf.org.ng