This happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.  —2 Corinthians 1:9 NIV

Did you know God sees mistakes as a normal part of life? He is not surprised when you stumble on your way.

God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. In fact, he uses our failures to show us that we need him and to drive us into his arms of grace.

God once told Gideon, an Israelite war leader, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me’” (Judges 7:2).

So God whittled Israel’s army down from thirty-two thousand to three hundred men, so that the odds would be impossible without God’s power. God sometimes does a similar thing in our lives to keep us from being able to say, “My own strength has saved me.”

When we fail on our own and succeed only when we are utterly dependent on him, then he gets the glory. Thus, failure isn’t a surprise or a misfortune. It’s an opportunity.

Food for Thought: Failure is a great opportunity to learn to rely more deeply on God, who can turn challenges and obstacles into new life.

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