11
B
efore the Almighty guided me into the
truth, there were a number of events and
circumstances in life that all pointed to the
fact that I was a failure. During a number of
years of living in the truth, I have experi-
enced a lot of testing, temptations and
challenges which try to affect my faith,
spiritual strength and the direction I should
be taking.
However, God has used these experiences to
bring me to Himself. Actually, it is important
to have Jesus Christ at the centre of all our
experiences. The failures we may experience
in life will all have a great ending, provided
we develop a deep level of faith, trust and
love for God. Recently, when reading the
book of Joel, I found this verse of great
encouragement:
“And I will restore to you the years that
the locust has eaten, the cankerworm,
and the caterpillar, and the palmer-
worm, my great army that I sent among
you” (2:25).
Of course, this promise applied to natural
Israel, if only they would heed God’s
commandments. But it is also true for us who
have experienced the dimension of God’s
grace and goodness. But God has not prom-
ised to restore everything instantaneously,
for the apostle says:
“For you have need of patience that
after you have done the will of God, you
might receive the promise” (Hebrews
10:36).
So we must take the long term view.
My failures have brought me near to the Lord,
but have also enabled me to continue walking
with Him over these many years. I can now
say without any reservation that given our
efforts in the flesh, we are all failures. That
is, without Jesus Christ at the centre of our
lives, we are failures. Jesus said that without
him, we can do nothing:
“If a man remains in me and I in him, he
will bear much fruit, apart from me you
can do nothing. If anyone does not
remain in me, he is like a branch that is
thrown away and withers: such branches
are picked up, thrown into the fire and
burned. If you remain in me and my
words remain in you, ask whatever you
wish, and it will be given you. This is
to my Father’s glory, that you bear much
fruit, showing yourselves to be my
disciples” (John 15:5-8).
Our personal failure should cause us to look
up and fervently seek the Lord. The sign of
true wisdom is when we realise that we can
do nothing without God. Any time that man,
by his own efforts and flesh, tries to do even
the works of God, failure is the inevitable
result. Consider the tower of Babel where
man, by his own efforts, tried to build a
tower to reach to heaven (Genesis 11). Think
of Abraham who tried to bring forth the
promises of God by his own effort; Ishmael
was born, but God said the son of promise
would be the child of Sarah and Abraham.
Moses wanted to deliver the people of Israel
before God’s time, and he had to go and live
in the wilderness for 40 years.
I have tried in my own effort to get employ-
ment, but all in vain. I am now in a rural
village trying farming. Perseverance is
required. I now realise that we must not only
carry any burden that is given by God, and
that includes the trials of this life - but we
must also have the motivation of wanting to
let the word of God direct our steps and have
a vision that will be realised in God’s set
time. God’s ways are different from the ways
of man. His plan and purpose will be fulfilled.
His kingdom will come and His will shall be
done on earth as it is now done by the angels
in heaven. Amen.
Are you a failure?
| Bro Green Mumbelunga (Ndola, Zambia)