How many times throughout our lives have we said or thought these words? I am sure that we all like to be successful in the things we do, and I also believe that we are proud of ourselves when other people realize our success and praise us for it. But over the years we learn the lesson that success is not guaranteed, not even when you try your best to achieve it. I remember that in my early days as an English teacher, the time of the exams was a concern for me, because I considered as a personal failure the fact that I could not get all of my students to approve. After some time, I realized that there will always be failures, either because the student does not put his part in the preparation of the exam, or because he has little facility in learning the subject, or even because the criteria are unfair of evaluation.
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We must accept that we are not always going to prosper in our efforts, nor see all our dreams come true. This can be especially hard for people who recognize Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives. If we believe that Our God is Almighty, and that if we trust in the Son of God daily, does not this mean that He will always give us success? In addition, the Scriptures affirm that we can do everything in Christ, and that if God is for us, we should not worry about the idea that someone, or something, may be against us. However, these biblical affirmations have a deeper meaning than the simple concept of human success, and each believer should be prepared for the circumstances that can bring difficulties or unexpected disappointments to his life. Let's think, for example. In a pastor who sees several members leave his church without new members, despite being faithfully serving the Lord. Or in a young believer who has been sharing his faith in Christ with his circle of friends for a long time without any of them becoming one. Or in a Christian woman who does everything she can so that her husband stops behaving unreasonably and shows her the love and affection she deserves, without him having the slightest desire to change his behavior. In all these cases, it is logical that the person believes that he has failed in his efforts, especially if he has prayed in faith for his situation to change.
In the Bible, we can find examples of great men of God who, humanly speaking, experienced failure. The prophet Elijah can be considered as one of these cases. If we read verse 5 of chapter 19 of the first book of the Kings, we see him so convinced of the failure of his mission to persuade his people to return to the Lord, who wishes to die. We are surprised by this negative attitude of the prophet if we read the previous chapter, which describes in detail his resounding triumph over the prophets of the false god, Baal, and we can ask ourselves: How can one explain that a man whom God has just given success, believe you have failed? I think the answer to this question can be found in Elijah's expectations. The prophet hoped, with complete certainty, that Queen Jezebel would accept with humility the defeat of her prophets, and at the same time disavow the worship of Baal to encourage the people to worship and serve the Lord. This, in the eyes of Elijah, would have meant the success of his mission. But the fact that Jezebel reacted by threatening him with death prevented his expectations from being fulfilled, and this thought arose in his mind: I have failed!
Instead, I would like to refer to the case of another man who appears in the Bible. When this man died crucified almost two years ago, his contemporaries, and even his closest friends, thought he had failed in his purposes. But He knew that his death was an important step toward triumph over sin. It is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose last words on the cross were not "I have failed!", But "It is finished, and I entrust you my spirit, Father", that is: "I have achieved it, and I am ready for you to receive me, Father. "The key to Jesus' attitude, in contrast to that of Elijah, is that the expectations he had in his mission were in perfect harmony with God's eternal purposes. He did not let himself be influenced by the human concept of what success and failure mean. Christ was born to triumph, and this is confirmed by the outcome of his mission.
Therefore, the next time things go wrong despite our best efforts to avoid it, if the Adversary introduces to our minds and hearts the temptation to attribute personal failure, remember that we are more than winners in Our Lord and Salvador Jesus Christ. That we do not mind if they tell us that we have failed. What does matter to us is that "all things work together for good to those who love God, that is, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Romans, chapter 8, verse 28).
@erickbrito, failures are part of the processes of God for men of victory, we have all gone through them, but that is not the end of our destiny.