Andrew Murray's Failures
Andrew Murray ministered around South Africa in the late 1800s. He did such good work. It's interesting for us South Africans to hear about his work in Potchefstroom, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Standerton, down into Natal and all these places that have got certain connotations for us. And to try to picture him in the late 1800s preaching there is interesting.
God Works in our Failures
But he did have some difficult times as well and some ministry failures. He writes this: “You think because I have not been so successful that this is a sign that the journey I'm on is not the Lord's will. I think we must be careful in judging this. The great thing is to have our minds always in a childlike state when we are considering or fixing our plans, and thus we shall know that God is guiding our path, even if it were a mistaken one, two very blessed issues. Even comparative failure has not for one moment made me think I was not in the right path.”
I was blessed by this as I read this friends, because I sometimes have gotten down on myself because I thought, Oh, I shouldn't have made that decision. What if I had done this? How would things have ended up if I had just gone here? And this passage reminded me: but God was at work the whole time! Even what seemed like a failure was God's providence, God working in it.
Don’t be Discouraged By Failure
If you look at your path at the moment, friends, do you sometimes wonder if you're on the right path? Well, turn to God, absolutely, and seek his ways. But recognize that even now, God will use the path you're on for good means. Recognize that right now God will use your situation, however good or bad it is for blessing. And that in that sense, you're always on the right path because he is going to use it for good.
Don’t Stay on Wrong Paths
Now there are paths we have to get off. Of course, sometimes you go down the wrong path and God is prompting you to change. Change, come back. Come back to the right path. But the truth is, he will use even those things that seem like failure for your good. If you come back to him.
And so like Andrew Murray, let's trust today that the path we're on is a good path, believing that God will use even what seems like failure for good.
