Failing Forward

 Israel disobeyed God and failed royally. The mission was simple. Go defeat the small town of Ai. Fresh off their victory over the much larger city of Jericho where God gave them victory, Israel was confident God would help them again. 

Only this time they had sin in the camp. Achan took things from the city God had banned not to be taken. He took a mantle, some silver and gold burying them under his tent. He thought it was hidden. Nothing is hidden from the eyes of God. God saw and was angry. So angry He refused to help Israel when they went to attack Ai. 36 Israeli soldiers died that day. It was an epic failure and Joshua did not understand. Not until God revealed the sin. Achan was dealt with along with his family. The nation repented. 

For the second time God called them go attack the city. He even gave them counsel how to do it. I wonder if the fear of failure replayed in their minds? God told Joshua not to fear nor be dismayed. [Joshua 8:1-3]

 Have you ever been fearful of repeating a past mistake. Of failing again? I certainly have. God often makes us face our fears. Face the very thing where we failed. Many remain stuck spinning their wheels right where they did not meet expectations. The place where they did not achieve success. It is understandable for people to be gun shy. Why put yourself through the humiliation, defeat, and pain of epic failures again. It is easier to let failures define us. As a man thinks in his heart so he is. [Prov 23:7] If you see yourself as a failure you most likely will think and behave like a failure.

All of us fail from time to time. None of us is perfect. Just because we fail does not mean we are a failure. We can fail forward when we learn valuable lessons from defeat. Israel did. When they attacked Ai the second time they did pay special attention to what was under the ban. They also followed the instructions God gave them completely. 

Failing forward requires faith to obey again. To face the same formidable obstacle that defeated us once before. God saw the victory before the army did. It was one step of faith followed by another. We cannot remain frozen by our fears. Faith trumps our fears. 

In the end, God gave Ai to Israel. The king and and all the people. It was one more step of progress in possessing the land God promised them. They learned from their failure and failed forward. I want to be like that. To learn from past mistakes and defeats. To refuse to retreat in fear. To possess what God calls you to claim you have to go forward. Even after a failure. 

Failing forward requires some grit, determination, and raw resolve to not give up until the goal is accomplished. Inventors like the Wright brothers and Thomas Edison learned to fail forward. So did Abraham Lincoln. Pastor and author Mark Batterson failed in his first attempt to plant a church.  You could understand if he felt a little reservation about packing a U-haul truck and trying to plant another in Washington, D.C. They met in a movie theater. It was tough sledding. In the first months they had 19 people. 20 years later they have thousands. He failed forward. I hope we will do the same thing.