A Friend who will never leave you

The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalms 34:18 NIV)

King David in the Bible, who must have felt pretty low after some serious collisions in his personal and public life. His scandalous “wife nabbing” must have been humiliating.

Guilt and discouragement must have also plagued him over the lack of control that he had over his adored, yet unruly, sons Absalom and Adonijah. I can’t imagine the criticism and blame that he must have received when God judged the entire nation because of his sin.

And yet it was these very same failures—not the giant slaying or the Philistine slaughtering—that taught David the humbling yet liberating truth: what a mess we all are without God.

It’s like a quote I once memorized that has encouraged me after a few of my fumbles. “Confessing to ourselves continually what a mess we are helps us to avoid that spirit of pride which causes us to criticize and condemn others.”

So if you find yourself flirting with failure, don’t be dismayed! There is a Friend who will never leave you, who’ll help you resist the sirens of discouragement and despair and bring you to the haven of His comfort, acceptance, and forgiveness. [1]

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default. - J. K. Rowling

[1] Activated Flirting with Failure