Without faith...

Yesterday I had a conversation with a friend who was really struggling with his failures. No matter how hard he tried, he felt like his life didn't measure up to those around him. They were more successful, they had steady employment, they maybe had families and he was struggling with his lack of those things. Consequently he was having a hard time believing that God loved Him or God wanted to be in His life. Truly I could relate to what he was saying. Sometimes when I try really hard at something and it never seems to work for me I feel like I am no good, a failure. Actually it gets worse. I feel like God doesn't care or God doesn't love me. Why is it not working for me but it is for everyone else? Well the truth is most everyone else is probably struggling too but that doesn't take away my pain. It didn't take away my friend's pain to know that others were not as successful as he saw them.

Well I felt like the Lord gave me a word for him. In the Bible it says that without faith it's impossible to please God. What that means is that no matter how hard we try to please God by our actions, and those things are important and often do please God, we will not please Him unless we believe Him. You see, you can be a success from the world's perspective and a failure from God's but the other can also be true. You can fail at many things in the world but still be pleasing to God because you have faith. As I thought about that I wondered what it is that God wants me to believe in order to please Him? Obviously we must believe that we need Him, our sin separates us from Him and that Christ as God came to forgive us and save us. But immediately there were some other things that were pressed on my heart.

When we are in the midst of failure in our lives, or even in a storm or difficult time in our lives, it pleases God when we take Him at His Word and believe that He knows our frailties, our flaws and our failures and yet He cares for us and He will never leave us. It pleases Him when we believe Him that our worth is not found in how successful we are in the eyes of others, but rather our worth is found in how much God treasures us in spite of our failures! It pleases Him to know we believe Him and trust Him that all things are under His control. I told my friend, it pleases God to know that you love Him and trust Him even when He has given you a harder life that many and maybe you have more setbacks than most. My friend struggles with some disabilities that have adversely affected his life.

So this morning I don't want you to be overwhelmed by the pain of failure. I want you instead, by faith, to believe in the goodness of God! Believe Him that He knows your pain and hurt and He cares. And go one step further and trust Him that He is at work in your life for His glory and your ultimate good. Pick yourself up and press on. If you failed in something you were trying to do, then consider that God's leading in another direction. If you failed the Lord in some area of obedience, repent, confess your sin and then get back to following the Lord. Remember, without faith it is impossible to please God. Our failures do not diminish His love for us.