Mistakes: Portals of Discovery

 

Mistakes: Portals of Discovery

 

I was working in my office as usual a few weeks back when something caught me by surprise. This squirrel was scratching against my office window for a good 5 minutes. Guess it didn’t realize it couldn’t get in. After he finally, or I thought finally, went away he came back again about an hour later and tried again. Matter fact, he came back about 3 or 4 times that I know of. I guess he never learned from his mistakes?

Mistakes are a part of life and when we make those mistakes we are called to learn from them. We call that experience.

When I was in Navy boot camp in Great Lakes Michigan, there was a rule that when you folded your blanket, you had to place it where the very edge of the blanket was touching the end of the bed. This was a strict rule and it being off a centimeter would have failed an inspection. Once…..just once I made this mistake and the company commander disciplined me as a result. Never happened again, I learned my lesson.

Israel made some mistakes too. God tried to lead them into the Promised Land directly after their exodus from Egypt. They showed a lack of faith and refused to enter into it out of fear, so this led to their forty years of wandering in the desert. They were spiritually immature so God sent them on a 40 year spiritual boot camp in the wilderness. He still blessed them and provided for their needs but all the while he was disciplining them.

They performed multiple acts of disobedience; they got Aaron to make them a golden calf; they griped when there was no water and they griped when there was no food. God gave them these things, as he was disciplining them.

Deuteronomy 8:5 “Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.”

It seems sometimes that we have so many opportunities to mess up in life. We do things we know we shouldn’t – and we make mistakes. We all make mistakes, When General Motors tried to introduce the Chevy Nova into South America, they neglected to notice that in Spanish “No VA” means “No go…

When Coca-Cola was introduced in China, their attempts at finding a phonetic equivalent in the Chinese language resulted in a drink called “bite the wax tadpole.”

Sometimes when we make mistakes we try to deny it. When we try to deny our mistakes that is when the trouble really begins. 1 Corinthians 10:12 says, If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. We all make mistakes!

“Mistakes are the portals of discovery.”

Thankfully, God is in the restoration business. He uses our mistakes and failures to bring about His intended results. It’s often through our mistakes that He is able to teach us and to transform our character…but only if we will let Him.

Sometimes we make a mistake and we think we can never go on again. Maybe we think we could never be forgiven because we have done such terrible things, but this is just another mistake.

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.  And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

Jesus was taking about freedom from sin. Some of the worst mistakes we make are sinful ones.

Whatever mistakes you make in life, let them be a place of learning. Whatever error you see, replace it with truth. Whatever else you do, live by faith: Faith that you will make mistakes and faith that God will see you through it.

I don’t know what life has dealt you this past week, month, year or lifetime. But I do know with God – “ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!!”

So if life has become messy because of mistakes…cling to the promises of God! He loves you more than you can imagine. He will be there for you when everything and everyone else has abandoned you.