Imagine a father holding both hands of a toddler and helping his child to walk. The child is giddy with the newfound ability and everyone watching is rejoicing with anticipation. The joy is palpable. The father releases one hand and then both hands as the toddler continues on, one victorious step after another. Then, suddenly, and without warning, the toddler finds him or herself sitting on the floor, or worse face-planted in the carpet.
The father does not walk away in disgust at the child’s failure nor does he turn his face away in embarrassment. Only the toddler is surprised by this turn of events. The adults expected it, the parents were prepared for it. The father, instead of scolding, praises the child for his or her efforts and reaches down with both hands to lift his child up, to comfort his child, and to help his child try again.
He praises the child for the few former victory steps, forgetting all about the past failure. Soon the child conquers the difficulty of walking and finds a new challenge to work on. All the while, the father is not far behind, ready at a moment’s notice to help his child succeed.
It is time to stop believing the lie that says when you stumble in your walk with God, He turns His face away from you. Just as in the story above, the exact opposite is true. When you stumble, your heavenly Father reaches out to you with both hands, to touch you with His healing compassion and restore you to the place where you can overcome. Instead of walking away from you in order to punish and shame you, He comes running to you. The idea of Him reaching out with both hands is very intimate. He is ever close to you, but when you need Him He comes even closer.
The lie tells you God has abandoned you and you will never again be good enough for Him. GOOD NEWS; You were never good enough for Him! He has been pursuing you since the beginning of time and He will continue to pursue you. Failure is not the time to hide in shame. Instead, it is the time to look up and see your compassionate Father reaching out to you with both hands to pick you up, embrace and comfort you, then set you back on your destiny-path. Failure is the time to draw near to God because it is also the time He draws abundantly near to you.
“The steps of the God-pursuing ones follow firmly in the footsteps of the Lord, and God delights in every step they take to follow him. If they stumble badly, they will still survive, for the Lord lifts them up with his hands” (Psalm 37:23-24).