Do I have any power to help myself; now that success has been driven from me? – Job 6:13

 

Today's Scripture Reading (July 4, 2021): Job 6

In "Cosmic Ordering: You can be Successful," self-help guru Stephen Richards wrote, "The only time you fail is when you fall down and stay down." The truth is, whether we want to admit it or not, we all fail. Failing is part of the human experience. It is also part of the learning curve. I think part of the problem with our contemporary human society is that we have not provided any room for failure. The stakes with everything that we do seems to be so high, and often our motto is that "failure is not an option," and it is not long-term failure that we are talking about; it is not the kind of success that only comes from falling and getting up again and again. We want success that comes from never falling down, and that is simply unrealistic.

I remember a moment when I was confronted by an influential member of the congregation wanting to know what the solution to the hymns vs. choruses debate should be. And I admitted that I didn't know the answer. We had tried several things, none of which had worked, at least not for the entire congregation. One group always seemed to feel that they were being left out of the solution. We had fallen down over and over again, but each time we had gotten up and tried something different. But my friend wasn't happy with my honest answer. I still remember him pointing at me with the words "What do you mean "you don't know?" We pay you to know." More than a decade has passed since that conversation, and I am still unsure that I know the answer. And I am still falling down and then getting up in an attempt to try to find it.

Job has fallen. The disasters that have occurred to him are many, and the weight seems insurmountable. Job is not sure that he has the power to get up one more time. Maybe part of what bothers Job is that he has journeyed from being an influential person in his culture to being inconsequential solely because of his recent struggle. As someone of influence, he could be an agent of change. Now, he is just another person who has fallen down. Earlier, maybe he would have gotten up again, but at this moment, he is not sure that he has the strength to get up one more time. In the mind of Job, this has become the moment of his final failure.  

We all fail, and we all fall. And I understand that sometimes we want to stay down. Sometimes it just doesn't seem to be worth the effort to get up and get into the fight one more time. But failure is not an option, at least not failure that results from not getting up and trying again. And we know the end of the story; Job will get up and try again. But for this moment, like all of us, he needs to take a breather before he tries one more time.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Job 7

Personal Note: Happy independence Day!