CHAPTER EIGHT
FAILURE THAT EQUIPS YOU TO FINISH
He who has never failed cannot be great. Failure is the
true test of greatness - Herman Melville
Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians
(Acts 7:22). The first 40 years of his life, he was an unqualified success. The
middle 40 years, he was an undisputed failure. The last 40 years, he was
finally fit for the Master’s use. Around the age of 40, Moses knew he had been
chosen by God to be the deliverer of Israel. He was dead right about the task
but dead wrong about the timing. There is a type of self-esteem that is healthy
and good. But there is an excessive self-confidence that is very harmful to
one’s spiritual health. How do you tell the difference between the two? Easy. A
wrong self-confidence is usually characterized by prayerlessness. Jesus said
“…apart from me you can do nothing” the person with excessive self-confidence
really doesn’t believe that.
Many men experience some type of transition around the
age of forty. Midlife is when men are forced to come to grips with the changes
that have occurred in their lives. For Moses, it was the following:
A change of address: from the palace of Pharaoh to the
pastures of Midian
A change of vocation: from leader of men to leader of
sheep. Most men get their feeling of self worth from what they do.
A change of status: he was rejected by Pharaoh. It is
always worse when rejection comes from inside our own camp. Depression stems
from some type of loss…or chemical imbalance.
The masters of character acquisition
Unemployment 101: this challenging course will cause you
to suffer but it’s the suffering that qualifies you for ministry. You may have
no desire to be in full-time ministry, but if you know Jesus Christ, then you
are in the ministry.
Advanced obscurity: in Exodus 2:16-22, the entire middle
forty years of Moses’ life get six verses. Why? Because Moses was obscure. In
those forty years of obscurity, solitude and quietness, God was rebuilding His
man from the inside out. Some type of obscurity is required if you are going to
earn your M.C.A. Obscurity is tough, especially if you are in a hurry to climb
the corporate ladder. But climbing the corporate ladder will never fit you to
finish strong. God wants you to climb the character ladder. John Luther wrote
that “good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most
talents are, to some extent, a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given
to us. We have to build it piece by piece – by thought, choice, courage and
determination.” There is no better place to begin making those right choices
than in the bleak, gray sands of obscurity.
Remedial waiting: God rarely uses Federal Express to
build character into our lives. He doesn’t overnight or fax character to us. It
takes time to build character. Lots of time. That’s why He’s taking so much
time in your life. God isn’t in a hurry. God has a principle, and the principle
is this: character development comes before ministry. You should know that you
are right on schedule. Maybe not on your own schedule, but on His schedule. He
knows precisely what He is doing in your life.
Every trial has a beginning, middle and an end. You cannot determine
where you are in your trial, but He knows exactly where you are. And He is
moving you along at just the right pace. Someone once said that everything is
in walking distance, if you have enough time. Believe it or not, you’ve got
time. You’ve got plenty of time, because you belong to Jesus Christ. And He
literally has all the time in the world.
Intermediate loneliness: research has demonstrated that
prolonged loneliness can even affect us physically. Most leaders like to be
with people. They enjoy the company of their followers. But in the desert,
Moses didn’t have any followers. Well, he had a few sheep. But the fact is,
Moses wasn’t in the desert to lead; he was in the desert to be led. That’s why
he had to be isolated. God had to get him off by himself so that He could have
his undivided attention. Moses thought he was a leader, but a leader really
isn’t a leader until he has learned to follow. God would not use Moses until he
had learned to submit to God and to His timetable. So Moses was alone.
Loneliness is never a pleasant experience. But God, in His wisdom, at times
will separate us from our normal network of family and friends. Isolation is an
opportunity to get to know Him better.
Many believers are simply frantic over the fact of
failure in their lives, and they will go to any lengths in trying to hide it,
ignore it, or rationalize about it. And all the time they are resisting the
main instrument in the Father’s hand for conforming us to the image of His Son!
– Miles Stanford
It is defeat that turns bone to flint, and gristle to
muscle, and makes people invincible, and forms those heroic natures that are
now in ascendancy in the world. Do not, then, be afraid of defeat. You are
never so near to victory as when defeated in a good cause. – Henry Ward Beecher
Everyone fails but the true failure is the one who
doesn’t learn from his setbacks. That’s why a teachable spirit is so important.
When you are in the midst of a desert, the fastest way out of the desert is to
ask God to let you learn everything that he has for you in that experience.
Stay open, and stay teachable. God is not trying to ruin you. He is rebuilding
you so that you can be used strategically. And the people God loves to use most
are those who have learned to depend completely upon Him. For many
self-sufficient types, that doesn’t come easily.
Abraham Lincoln entertained large thoughts about God and
small thoughts about himself. Humility means that someone has a proper
self-confidence, a proper self-esteem, and a proper kind of godly courage. That
kind of character only comes from being in the furnace of affliction and
hardship. No wonder it was said that “the man Moses was very humble, more than
any man who was on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3)
There are not many undefeated people around – John
Gardner
God uses our failure to equip us for future success.
Source: Finishing Strong by Steve Farrar