One scripture I have always marvelled at is Proverbs 24:16a

For a just man falls seven times and rises again.

In the place of meditation, I have entertained a few questions about the mindset of this just man

1. Do just men fall?

2. Why does the just man keep falling?

3. Where does he get the strength to rise up again?

4. Does he fall “for” the same things over and over, or does he fall because of different factors?

Like me, you may have entertained similar questions. The answer to these questions, I have found, can furnish the heart of the believer with staunch resilience and grit that make for a long-lived faith walk and a rich, vibrant testimony on this side of eternity.

The concept of failure, and embracing the right mindset toward it, is something I am grateful to have learned when I failed my first examination many years ago. I am grateful to have tasted failure and received rejections early on in my life because of the lessons and mindset they left me with — some of which I will be sharing with you today.

The first insight we glean from the just man is that the focus is not on falling, but on the strength to rise up and bounce back on his feet. The distinction the writer draws between the just and the wicked is not whether or not they fall, but which of them gets back up. The writer further makes the point that there is a provision in the heritage of our faith that doesn’t make the righteous stay down when he falls, but furnishes him with the strength to rise back up if and when he does fall.

By now, if you’re reading this, I’m sure you’re well acquainted with the fact that people fall or fail — rejections happen. To deny the reality of failures is to reject the possibility of victory. A plethora of stories about inventors — men and women who achieved great victories — proves this. We know the story of Thomas Edison, whose 10,000 failed attempts were interpreted as his successful discovery of 10,000 ways it doesn’t work.

Most people would prefer a smooth sail, with no pressures and no obstacles. However, praise is not reserved for the person who has never failed; the accolades are actually reserved for the person who persisted and progressed regardless of his failures.

There is actually a hidden springboard within the infrastructure of failure that helps propel the just man forward. While there is a whole body of knowledge behind this, I’d like to leave you with three cues to help you locate that springboard.

Find the right tag — Failure is often associated with fear. Fear is failure processed wrongly. When failure becomes excessively internalized and individualized, it leads to fear. I have found that the fear of failure comes from wrong associations and faulty interpretations. The story of Judas and Peter provides a very good case study.

Judas processed failure wrongly — he put the tag on the wrong entity. In the concept of failure, there is the individual who performs the action and the action itself. When you say you failed, what you’re really saying is that you, the individual, made an attempt at an action, and it didn’t work. The evaluation should focus on your thought process behind the action, your methodology in executing it, and the knowledge base you drew from. Any of these three areas can be flawed and may lead to failure.

But when you place the failure tag not on the action, but on the person, you’re saying the producer of the action is fundamentally flawed — which implies that anything produced from that source is doomed to fail. That is a destiny killer.

Judas tagged himself as the failure, which led to suicide. Peter, on the other hand, tagged the action, sought forgiveness, received encouragement, and went on to strengthen his brothers. Like Judas, some people have wrongly tagged themselves as failures — and it has stopped them in their tracks.

Review and Iterate — Some people’s attitude toward failure is to resign to fate, accepting it as a telltale sign to throw in the towel. Others stubbornly make repeated attempts, doing the same thing over and over. The more excellent way is not just a “do-over” but a “do-better.”

The concept of retrying after failure is not merely about a second attempt — it’s about a better attempt. A “do-better” is a mindset that is both highly resilient and intelligently objective. It pairs the mental agility to try again with a learning component that asks: in going again, what should I do better? What should I drop? What should I change? What should I continue?

It’s an attitude that includes feedback in its arsenal — not just for a retry, but for a refire.

Plug into a solution centre. — The Bible encourages us to understand that there is nothing we may be going through at the moment that is unique to us — our trials are neutralized by their commonality. Someone, somewhere, has been as embarrassed, as discouraged, as delayed, or as denied as you are now.

Believing in the commonality of our trials helps us plug into the comfort available in the commonwealth of the saints. When you believe your trials and failures are unique to you, you sink further into the mire of your own despondency.

To plug into a solution centre, you need to have the right attitude toward feedback, believe that people carry graces, and be ready to ask for help — and to be helped.

God Himself is not a stranger to the concept of failing forward. In the book of Genesis, we see His agile response to the first fatal failure — the zenith of His creation had fatally fallen after a successful upgrade. The enemy rejoiced, thinking the worst damage had been done and that there was no recovery. However, God iteratively made provision for an unmatched comeback in Christ Jesus — a strategy the enemy still regrets to this day.

When next you fail at something, beyond remorse and regret, adopt these 3 attitudes to ride the tides of its wave to your next victory destination.

“After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you in Jesus Name. Amen. “— 1 Peter 5:10 NASB

Have a blessed week.

For His Glory and His renown

Olayinka Adebayo

@layinkadebayo

Push Buttons is a weekly devotional of The Powerpoint Tribe.