Despite setbacks, you can find the path to truth and wisdom by reflecting, not ruminating.
God never wants failure to be a part of your life. He speaks into the universe beauty, wonder, loveliness, and truth—not failure. Failure is difficult to process because our minds are not meant to bear its weight. It represents brokenness rather than God’s perfect design. Yet just as God makes all things new, He can redeem your failure and restore your strength. As you learn to reflect well on failure, not ruminate, God will bring you wisdom and the confidence to move forward.
Failure: Reflecting Rather Than Ruminating
Failure can be all-consuming. In psychology, the concept of ruminating means obsessively revisiting the same thoughts or theme on repeat. Ruminating on failure provides no benefit and, in fact, steals joy and highlights shame. Ruminating leaves you paralyzed, while reflecting liberates you to proceed stronger than before.
Following a failure, reflect on why the results didn’t turn out as expected. Look closely at the decisions and circumstances that led up to the failure and ask yourself the following questions:
- What aspects of this situation were within my control?
- Were there circumstances outside my control that I must let go of and come to peace with?
- Was any decision made hastily or without prayer?
- Is there someone I could have sought advice and wisdom from? How might I pursue wisdom moving forward?
- In what ways might God grow my character through this failure?
Reflecting Reveals God’s Formation in Your Life
Every failure is an opportunity for growth and progress. After all, failure is evidence that you tried. A failure in business speaks to the boldness required to start something. And God can always use your courage to start something new in the future!
A failure in a commitment shows a tenderness of heart and a recognition of the importance of keeping your word. What is God teaching you about the necessity of praying before committing? How might He be preparing you for opportunities ahead?
When you fail to reach a goal, it’s not defeat but a steppingstone towards improvement. It’s an opportunity for God to shape your yearning to improve and align it with His perfect plans for your life. How might God use this experience to strengthen your resolve and make you more resilient?
Acknowledging a failure to obey Christ shows that you actually want to follow His ways, that you’re sensitive to anything that displeases Him. How is God prompting your heart away from disobedience and growing your affection for Him?
Failure is never something to seek out or accept lightly. Instead, every failure offers an opportunity to become someone who loves and follows Jesus and trusts God for the future.
Reflecting Leads to Truth and Wisdom
As you reflect on failure, prayerfully ask God to reveal details that perhaps went overlooked. Ask for insight into the circumstances as well as your heart, mind, and reactions. No matter the type of failure, whether in a career, relationship, goal, promise, or anything else you set out to do, you can learn from King David’s reflection in Psalm 51 after he experienced failure. He wrote in Psalm 51:6, “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” King David was grieved by his failure, yet his response was prayerful. He recognized that God wanted to produce truth and wisdom deep within him despite failure, perhaps even through it.
Let failure compel you toward truth and wisdom in your inner being. Reflect on failure with God’s Word as your guide. Discover His power to turn around a situation, redeem a shortcoming, and showcase His perfect power.
Reflecting Reveals the Breadth of God’s Grace
It is easy to go through life feeling like you are testing God’s grace—as if a weakness or shortcoming might push you outside the bounds of His mercy. Failure can lead to fear of rejection or a sense of disqualification. Yet the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
God’s grace is more than enough to mend, redeem, and use every misstep or deficiency. Let failure open your eyes to see God’s grace more fully than ever before.
Reflecting Showcases God’s Strength
God shows His power as He meets human failure with divine grace. Revisiting 2 Corinthians 12:9, God’s power is made perfect in human weakness. God’s power lacks nothing, so what might this passage mean? The Greek word for perfect is teleioō and can be translated as to be found perfect, to accomplish, and to carry through completely. Human failure does not add anything to God’s power, but rather is the means by which God offers His redeeming strength in human lives.
If you set out to accomplish something that didn’t yield the results you hoped for, reflect on how God’s power can be made known in your circumstances. Where can you see Him at work, and how might you encourage others in their failure by sharing your story with them? 2 Corinthians 1:4 says God “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
Reflecting Equips You to Impact God’s Kingdom and the World Around You
God does not use perfect people because there would be none to call on. Instead, He beautifully redeems brokenness and transforms it into a stunning story of His grace and love. If you have failed in an endeavor or come up short on a commitment, God can take what feels futile and use it to reach those whose hearts are hardened toward His truth.
King David made a bold statement while reflecting on his failure in Psalm 51:13: “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” King David’s failure did not disqualify him from God’s grace. Instead, it uniquely set him up as an example to the world that God’s love is greater than human failures.
The world is full of people who believe God could not possibly love them because of their failure. Some follow God and yet doubt He can use them because they have tried and failed one too many times. Reflect on your story, consider how God might grow you through failure and use your situation to draw others to His redemption, grace, and love.
Failure provides an opportunity to participate in God’s work of making all things new. Step out from beneath the weight of shame and discouragement and rejoice as God forms you into who He created you to be. Failure is not an endpoint, but a beautiful transition to the next part of your story.
