The Year Of Failure

TO READ: Psalm 34:1-22

The LORD will redeem those who serve him. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Psalm 34:22

Have you ever been really disappointed with yourself? David was. He must have felt that he had really let the Lord down. Looking back to his brave beginning with Goliath, he may have found himself fearing he never again would attain such spiritual heights.

After he escaped from the Philistine king, he hid in the cave of Adullam and penned Psalm 34. He was able to say, “I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4). One of those fears must have been the fear of failure.

He reminded himself that: “Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces” (Psalm 34:5). Was he thinking back to his desperate measure at Gath when he had scrabbled on the gate with his fingernails and had let saliva flow down his beard? If he came back to trusting the Lord, he told himself, his face would be ruddy and radiant again!

The fear of failure can keep you in a cave of self-recrimination forever. Or it can drive you to the One who said: “The LORD will redeem those who serve him. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned” (Psalm 34:22).

A good dose of Psalm 34 will help you confess your transgressions to the Lord who will forgive the guilt of your sin (Psalm 32:5). You will discover that failure is never final.