I cried at work the other day.
Jordan*, one of my favorite patients, was having a cavity filled. (She used to get super nervous but has conquered that fear.) As she smelled laughing gas, we caught up.
I asked how her current activity at school was going. It had just ended, and she was glad it was over.
“My coach called me a failure.”
“What?” I nearly shrieked. Those were strong words.
“Yeah,” she answered and told me the number of times. The coach had yelled it. In front of everybody.
Tears poured from my eyes. “I’m sooo sorry. You are absolutely NOT a failure,” I gushed.
“It’s OK,” this sweet not-a-failure girl said. “She was going through some things.”
We talked about praying for people who are having difficult times. I told her, “Hurt people, hurt people, but that’s no excuse.”
The world is quick to gauge our worth. Thankfully, God is not.
In the book of Judges (chapters 13-16), Samson is a good example of getting it all wrong but was still not a failure. His birth was announced by the angel of the LORD. His parents had many hopes for him. He was a Nazarite – dedicated to God – yet he was a rule breaker. Time after time, he put himself in the wrong place with the wrong women/people. His choices led him to a hard place.
In Rediscovering Israel, Kristi McLelland shares, “Samson’s eyes have been removed, his light put out. His hair has been cut; his strength is gone. He is in prison in Philistia, but God is with him.”
When FAILURE may have seemed written on his tunic and life, his story wasn’t over. Judges 16:21-22 reports he was bound with bronze shackles and they set him to grinding in the prison. But—the word “but” in the Bible means something is about to change: “But the hair on his head began to grow again.”
McLelland also wrote, “We may get it wrong 99% of the time, yet God can still show up magnificently in our last 1% and do more with it than with all we squandered.” She noted that Samson, who might have seemed like a failure to everyone else, is listed in Hebrews 11, which is known as the Hall of Faith chapter. That can be a reminder for all of us that it ain’t over til it’s over.
If you have been labeled a failure, I am so sorry. It’s not true! The devil is the worst for putting this thought in our heads. You were made on purpose, in the imageof God. He wantedyou here! As long as you are still living and breathing, God still has a plan for you.
If you have felt like a failure because of bad choices you’ve made, God is famous for restoring and renewing. He loves you! God is not afraid of your dirt, your baggage, your mistakes. Nothing is too hard for Him (Jeremiah 32:17). He can turn your mess into a message.
As followers of Christ, let’s look at others like He does – with compassion and promise (Matthew 9:36). Let’s speak encouraging words and build them up instead of tearing them down (Ephesians 4:29).
Jordan got her dental work done and left with a hug and smile. At 12, she has tough skin but a tender heart. Definitely not a failure.
*name changed