"The godly may trip seven times, but each time they will rise again" (Prov 24:16)
A casual reading of texts like, "Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ" (2 Cor2:14), and "In all (these) things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Rom 8:37) would make an average Christian believe that he would never have any failure in his life. Though it is not the will of God that His children live in defeat, He does allow failures in their lives for their own good. The biographies and autobiographies of God's men and women sketched in the Scriptures prove substantially that no one escaped the "discipline of failure." An analysis gives us atleast five reasons why God allows failures in our lives.
To make us humbler: "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov 16:18). It is natural for us to be puffed up with pride when everything goes alright and successful with us. The grace of God is opposed to the pride of man (1 Pet 5:5b). If failure is the only way to make us bend and walk humbly before Him, He hesitates not to permit it in our lives.
To make us wiser: When our lives are free from any kind of defeat or failure, we tend to ascribe our successfulness to our brilliance and smartness in doing things. The Bible asks, "Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him" (Prov 26:12). Failures and defeats lead us to review our course and make us know that what we know is far less than what we know not.
To make us kinder: God severely deals with those who are hard on others but lenient towards themselves (Gal 6:1). It was in a sense the failure of Peter which qualified him to minister to his brothers (Lk 22:32). When we taste God's kindness we know how to treat our fellow-strugglers (2 Cor 1:3,4).
To make us holier: A righteous man analyses everytime why he fell and avoids the causes. This way he becomes more and more righteous in practical living (2 Cor 7:10,11). Lessons we learn from failures help us stay vigilant against the enemy's attacks.
To make us interdependent: We never realize that we cannot do it alone but we need each other until we fail miserably. No member in the Body of Christ is self-sufficient. Every member needs the support of others (Eph 4:15,16). Jesus sought the company of His disciples in the hour of trial. But Peter boasted that he would follow Jesus even if all would forsake Him. We know who won and who failed!
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