God Loves Failures

If you are anything like me, you can probably count more things that you have failed at rather than succeeded at in your lifetime. I think God loves that about me, especially since I have been a believer and a follower of Him. Don't get me wrong, I think that He loves to see us succeed at things as well, but it's in those times when I fail at something that I lean on Him the most, and I believe that is what He wants the most, for us to rely on Him.
The Bible is full of stories of men who constantly missed the mark or fell short of God's desires for them; Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David and Peter are all great figures of Scripture who experienced failure. Those same stories teach us about God's Grace and His never-ending pursuit of us to overcome our failures in order to succeed for Him. My favorite story is that of a man named David which can be found in the books of 1 & 2 Samuel. David had favor with God. God knew that David would have huge struggles in his life which would lead him to constant failure. But God loved him despite his flaws and blessed him with numerous opportunities to serve Him and bring Him historical glory. This is the same David that slayed Goliath the Philistine, and grew to become anointed as Israel's second King. King David had many victories and he had God's promise that his descendants will be on the throne forever. In 2 Samuel 11, we read about how David lusted after a young woman named Bathsheba and how he would have her husband, Uriah, killed so he could be married to her. Even after this shameful act, God still loved David and kept his promise to him. I don't know what you would feel in that situation, but I would have felt like the ultimate failure and completely unworthy of God's love for me.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 says, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize".
The prize is God's Love, Grace & Forgiveness for us. When ever I am feeling like a screw-up, I am reminded of this verse, and it tells me to continue to fight, continue to run the race of life, and to continue to request and count on God's assistance in what ever the matter is. Life is full of mistakes, but it's in those times that I recover from my failure and use it as a tool of growth. We are called to learn from our failures and confess them to God. This frees us to be of service to do mightier and more successful things for Him.
Just remember that ultimately, there is nothing that we can do or say that will separate us from God's Grace. For Jesus already paid that price by giving His life for our sins (and failures) on The Cross!

Peace!