Encouraging Words to Failures

Deuteronomy 1:1-8

Deuteronomy contains a distinct message spoken to the Israelites by Moses just before he dies. The Israelites have wandered forty years in the wilderness. They are standing on the banks of the Jordan River where their forefathers had failed miserably forty years prior. As they stand at their place of greatest failure, Moses is strongly admonishing them to obey God, who has been and will continue to be faithful to them. The Israelites must make an all-important decision about their future. As they stand on the brink of the Promise Land they stand at a point between their past history of disobedience and their potential future obedience. The battles and burdens that Moses has faced with them over the past forty years give birth to the messages of Deuteronomy. Forty years of seemingly aimless wandering and failure motivates him to emphasize God's ability to provide success.

The very last verses of Deuteronomy give insight to the man making the plea. These verses reveal the impact that Moses life had. "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, In all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel." (Deuteronomy 34:10-12)

Moses had spent his life preparing his heart and his message for this ocassion. What Israel decides to do here will influence succeeding generations. It is at this point that God seeks to renew his covenant to Israel. It is at this point that they will inherit the Promised Land and it is at this precise point that a new identity will be given.

Deuteronomy 1:1-8
These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab. (There are eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea.) And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them; After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei: On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying, The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.

Facing Our Failures

The Israelites were standing in the very place of their greatest failure. It had taken them 40 years to make an 11 day journey. They are surrounded by reminders of their past failures. They were facing the same river and the same enemy. You can only imagine the emotional war raging within their minds. Knowing your strengths is great but understanding your weaknesses is even greater, but it is much scarier. Moses wanted the Israelites to honestly face their defeat. He wanted them to exploit their failures. He did not want them to waste their experience. Learn all you can from failure; every bitter experience can teach us something.

Moses did not want them to use their failures as an excuse for not trying again. You may not be able to recoup the loses, undo the damage, or reverse the consequences, but God will allow you to make a new start. This time you can be wiser, more sensitive, and more determined with the help of God to do right.

Philippians 3:13-15
"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you."

How do we rise above the pain of failure and defeat to get its message? We must realize that failure is not a stigma or a permanent obstacle. Failure should spur us on to learn and try again. Don't be afraid to get your failures out in the open and look at them. Airing failures makes us realize that we are not alone. Analyze why you failed. This can be painful, but ask God to give you insightful wisdom (James 1:5) about your failures. If we only think negative about our failures as we endeavor to push them out of sight and out of mind we will never learn from them and we will never gain the confidence we need in dealing with the problems we face.

Encouragement of God's Word

Deuteronomy 1:3
And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them . . .

In the last couple of decades we have listened to a multitude of positive speakers, we have listened to the power of positive thinking, read books that endeavor to give power for living, we have looked for good news in bad times, books that tell us to be all we can be and books that encourage us not to give up. But do we listen to God who is speaking to us through his word in the midst of our failures?

Moses dared not to speak to the congregation without any assurance that he had a divine message. Moses dared not to speak unless God had spoken. Without God we have nothing to say. Without him we dare not speak. Moses wanted the children of Israel to depend on God, realizing that no long lasting change will come about without his aid.

Moses spoke the word of the Lord to all Israel because he wanted them to understand their position in God's plan. Moses told them that God could still use them. The Bible gives plenty of examples of people who dealt with the agony of personal defeat. Manasseh stands out as a man who suffered terrible defeat. God brought his judgment upon Jerusalem because of Manasseh's evil.

II Kings 21:9-12
But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel. And the LORD spake by his servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.

But the writer of 2 Chronicles tells us that Manasseh decided to listen to God in the midst of his defeat. God restored him to his original position.

2 Chronicles 33:12-13
And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.

What an encouragement for those who have failed God and others. Knowing that you still have a part to play in God's work can be a great encouragement.

Moses was encouraging them to take charge of their future. There were plenty of things around them that would brand them as failures, but Moses persuaded them to go forward.

You cannot go back and make a brand new start, but you can have a brand new start and make a brand new end.

God is not interested in your past, but he is intensely interested in you future.

Moses spoke these words to them to renew their minds. Moses wanted to reprogram their minds to think scripturally instead of reliving and dwelling on past inadequacies.

Don't forget it is in the process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning.Our culture has conditioned us to see success as a most desirable goal and failure as a terrible event. The reverse may actually be closer to the truth.

Most people view freedom from difficulties, not the ability to handle difficulties well, as a measure of success and maturity. We make excuses or blame others for our failures, or we pretend to be successful when we're not.

It is painful to confront our own failures with honesty and objectivity. Yet that is the only path to correcting attitudes and actions that may have contributed to the failure. Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and our wisdom. It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually. It is through difficultes that our minds can be renewed.

"Every success I know has been reached because the person was able to analyze defeat and actually profit from it in the next undertaking." William Marston, Author of Take Your Profits From Defeat.

Christ learned obedience from things he suffered (Heb 5:8).

Problems create situations in which we can grow.The things we want to avoid are the very things that nuture us and shape us into the persons we should be.Stress caused from problems keep us on the cutting edge of wisdom. If we lived in a problem free environment it would be a pretty dull world.

Positive thinkers see failure as a stepping stone. Negative thinkers see failure as a tombstone.

"FAILURE ISN'T FAILURE UNLESS YOU DON'T LEARN FROM IT." Failure can actually help us renew our minds.

Words Spoken after Significant Victories

God is the author of paradoxes. Only he can bring victory in the midst of defeat. Notice that the words of Deuteronomy are not only spoken at the place of failure but that place was also a place of victory. These words were spoke after Sihon the king of the Amorites and Og the king of Bashan had been slain by the Israelites. They stood on the banks of the Jordan River. They had eaten manna from heaven, drank water from a rock, worn the same clothes for forty years and now they could look back over the victories in the wilderness. Moses was encouraging them to look back realizing the victories of the past forty years could give them courage to face the victories which were ahead. They are standing at the crossroads of life, looking back they can see the failures, looking ahead they could see the victory.

There is an expectation of victory in Moses words. His words are impregnated with hope; they are uplifting to a people conscious of their failures. They need encouragement. They need to see God's hand actively directing their lives. Crossing the Jordan is not a likely prospect until they feel good about their God and themselves. We must remind people of the Goliaths that God has slain for us. This brings a spirit of encouragement to the lives of others as they face the giants before them. The extra momentum really makes the difference.

A sad-looking fellow was sitting before his minister, who was trying to help him. "You say that you've failed in every business you've tried?" the good preacher asked. "You speak only of failure." "That's right," the man nodded, eyes down cast. "Well, now!" the minister spoke heartily. "I say to you, sir, that you must get the power of positive thinking. You must forget failure and think positively, never negatively. You can start right now. Will you do that?" "Yes, sir," the man nodded, showing a spark of life. "I see what you mean. I now know positively I am going to fail again."

Moses Words for Specific Purpose

Deuteronomy 31:6-7
Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.

Deuteronomy 31:23
And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee.

God was challenging and encouraging the Israelites to walk where they had never walked before. How many times when we try to face a problem do we feel a little bit fearful, a little bit intimidated?

Jesus did two things for Peter when Peter was in the boat. He challenged Peter to walk where Peter had never walked -- that's God. We laugh at his failure. Jesus stood by him -- walked beside him when Peter was in new territory.

God assures each of us that if we step out of the boat to walk with him he will do nothing but bless us and encourage us, even if we sink. If you fall he will pick you up again.We need to assure people that if they will step out of the boat that they will receive nothing but encouragement from us. If they fall we will pick them up, and we may even go down with them, but we'll go down together.
 

Booker T. Washington said, "You can't hold a man down, without staying down with him."

Conclusion:

Moses wanted the Israelites to know that God valued them in the midst of their failures. He wanted them to know that there is hope. He wanted them to focus on God.

Charles L. Allen, in his autobiography What I Have Lived By, relates the story of a conductor who was making his last run before retirement. A man asked him how he felt about this final trip on the passenger train. He replied, "It seems like I have spent my life trying to help people get home." Moses would have understood.