A young man was appointed president of a bank. Intimidated by his new responsibilities, he nervously sought the advice of his gray-haired predecessor:
“Sir. What has been the secret of your success?” “The secret, young man, is two words: right decisions!” replied the older man. “But how do you make right decisions?” “One word: experience.” “But how do you get experience?” The old man smiled. “Two words: wrong decisions.”
We all make bad decisions. We can deny that we’ve made poor choices or allow it to become a permanent paralyzing fear or we can see our our poor choices as an important part of our success.
We can make excuses or blame others for our failures. There are some who believe they’re failures and others who believe they’ve never failed. Lets’ face it we’ve all blown it.
Michael Jordan said,” I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On countless occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that’s precisely why I succeed.
It’s not so important that we fail, but that we learn from it. The difference between success and failure depends on how you look at it. Our culture has conditioned us to see success as a most desirable goal and failure as a terrible event, yet God continues to build His kingdom purposes with those who have blown it.
Although failure is not a requirement for success, it can be a stepping stone to deeper relationships with God and others. By God’s grace we can learn from them. God is a specialist in working out our poor choices into His purposes.
As a child Moses was privately tutored in the Pharaoh’s palace with all its’ advantages. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. Moses had it all. He was handsome and had a great resume. When Moses spoke people listened! His life is a case study of how God uses our poor choices.
When Moses became aware of his people’s oppression he thought he could deliver them by his own power (Acts 7:25). The Rambo Moses tried to emancipate the Hebrews by his own passionate will and might. Seeking justice in his own way he took matters into his own hands and took the life of an Egyptian (Ex.2:11-14) and he was in big trouble! Epic failure. We can learn from Moses’ poor choices. No matter where we come from and despite what we may think…
No One Is Exempt from Suffering
Moses had not yet learned the distinction between passion and purpose and impulse and principle. He was sympathetic towards the plight of his people’s suffering and wanted the oppressor feel his wrath. Yet, the response to his impulsive action was heard in the question by one of his own people, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?
Instead of Moses delivering and leading the Hebrews no one was listening or wanted to follow him, at least not yet. Moses was afraid, disappointed and exhausted. He pushed his own way and ran from what he caused apart from God’s way and timing. Sound familiar? For Moses there was no deliverance, only failure. Moses learned the hardest of lessons that we also would do well to consider.
Passionate self will that proceeds knowing God’s way can lead to disaster.
Our poor choices can get us closer to a place where God wants us to be
After miserably failing to deliver the Hebrews in his own strength and afterward spending forty years in the Midian desert Moses was adamantly reluctant to represent God to the Pharaoh.
“What if they do not believe me or listen to me?… Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue… Please send someone else.” Exodus 4:1, 10, 13
Yet later, this timid Moses confidently stood up to the Pharaoh face to face. With their back against the wall and no way of escape from the Pharaoh’s fast approaching army Moses boldly told his people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.”
Join us next time as we see how our poor choices can actually increase our confidence in God.
