The Lie Within Failure
At the miserable bottom of brokenness, where failure is obvious to everyone, there waits a lie so destructive it will perpetuate failure in you forevermore.
Your failure, or repeated failures, or habitual failures, or your assortment of failures want to tell you a lie. And it’s a good one. It seems so true, so logical. Many near and far, looking at what they see as the wreckage of your life, will sadly agree with the sentiment. This amplifies the lie. Here it is as you will no doubt say it to yourself:
“I’m too broken to be redeemed!”
The simple but important reason this is a lie has nothing to do with your failure, your temptations, your flaws. It is a lie because it goes against God’s word. If it goes against God’s word then it means that God is not truthful. If God is not truthful, then he is not God.
Now we can go in many directions to prove my point, but why not give us a psalm that we can repeat and pray through whenever we become so discouraged we want to throw in the towel?
This is Psalm 103. One of David’s psalms.
I will break it into a few sections in order to make a few comments I hope are helpful.
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
David is speaking to his own soul which means he is speaking to his life, where he happens to be in the moment. He is telling himself to bless God with his words and in the process align his thoughts. He is telling himself to evict all doubt that God is anything but absolutely good and holy. This begins the journey out of brokenness.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Quite a list. What does verse 5 mean? Renewing my youth is to give me back my vibrancy and excitement about life. Yes, God can do this. He does it all the time.
6 The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.
And it just gets better. Take what comes next as the antidote for our discouragement.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
If you have ever been in the military you understand the fear of the general. In a way, if you fear your general more than you fear the enemy (assuming you have a good general handing out combat orders) you will be able to defeat your enemy.
If God outranks everything and everyone else in your life, especially yourself, then you have placed Him on His thrown of power over your life. He is your Lord only if his word is supreme in your thinking. In a very real sense the Bible judges you, not the other way around.
14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17 But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, 18 to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. 19 The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! 21 Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! 22 Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!
If you are God’s, he will see you through your darkest moments. If not, then your failures are yours to manage all on your own. Good luck with that.