Don’t Mistake Mistakes !
Rahini was at the foot of the dais, heart thumping, waiting to receive the “Best Student” award. As her name rang from there, she sprang like a doe and quickly climbed the stairs. And then it happened—she slipped on her high heels and went sprawling to the floor. Some sympathetic clucking of tongues from the audience, the sound of footsteps running towards her, the whrrr of the video camera...! She was up in a moment and managed to collect her prize from the chief guest and carefully climbed down the other side. She took a seat and wished the earth would open and swallow her up. Bitter tears beaded the corner of her eyes. What her mother said casually rang in her ears: “Don’t wear your high heels, Rahini, you are still unsteady on them.” The teenager hadn’t taken it seriously.
It happens to me, it happens to you, it happens to President Clinton too. It may be a silly mistake or a sin that crushes us. An ego-bruising experience leads some to even commit suicide like Ahithopel. One should not be so fragile to be broken by a mistake. That’s a terrible mistake. It leads some highly visible people to drop out of sight and die a slow death. But to some others it serves as a springboard to torpedo their progress. It all depends on how one looks at failures. There are still others who don’t want to make mistakes and embarass themselves. They will always live in a plateau. If they can’t make a mistake they can’t make anything.
The sorrow that arises out of failure may take two different turns, according to Paul (2 Cor 7:10). It can be a godly sorrow leading to repentance and salvation (from deeper pits); or it can be a sorrow of the world leading to death. God allows such bumps in the road along Christian life that we may recognise similar yet more horrible mistakes in the future and escape them wisely. Therefore such a mistake can be the voice of God if we let it speak to us. When someone points out our mistake, he may be a God-sent prophet to exhort and uplift us or a devil to hit us on the head and dump us down the drain, depending on how we look at him and our mistake. So look at them as friends not foes.
When David was anointed king over all Israel, he wanted to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem. He consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds and with every leader. When they all agreed that it was the right thing to do, he arranged to shift the ark. When they came to Chidon's threshing floor, the Lord struck Uzza and he died, because he touched the ark to hold it when the oxen stumbled. Their music turned to mourning. David was deeply hurt and angry at the death of Uzza. After a lapse, he again decided to bring the ark. This time David said that no one but the Levites should carry the ark, and that in the prescribed way as the Lord had said (1 Chr 13-15).
What happened during the lapse of three months is not difficult to guess. There was war with the Philistines, he built him houses, married, etc. But storms were raging within him. Why did this happen to him? Why did God allow it ? Why did not his captains stop him if he was wrong? Why did not the Lord tell him what he should do and how? Where did he go wrong?
Did he not read the Scriptures and pray regularly? Did he not cry for wisdom to know God’s will day by day ? Atleast after the gruesome incident why didn’t God put His finger where he erred and speak to him? He could send a prophet. But no answers were forthcoming for the questions burning in his soul. After much soul-searching, consultation and searching of the Scriptures David located the problem. In general eventhough God was for the ark to be brought to Jerusalem, He was not pleased with the way it was done. David had failed to enquire about how to do it in the prescribed way (1 Chr 15:13). The proper order was that the Levites should carry the ark on their shoulders by poles (Ex 25:14).
Sometimes eventhough we do God's will, God is not happy about the details of it. David learned his lesson the hard way. But then he wrote, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn Your decrees” (Psa 119:71). So we see, allowing us to make mistakes is one way of God to get us back on track.
Whenever we turn to the right hand or to the left, mistakes are voices that keep telling us, “This is the way, walk in it” (Isa 30:21). Most of us are like Balaams who forsake the right way, atleast now and then. So God puts us in narrow paths, blocks our way, crushes our foot and opens the mouths of asses to prevent us making more foolish mistakes (2 Pet 2: 15,16).
Paul while writing to the Corinthian church comforts them regarding their failures. The catalogue of lessons learnt through that bitter experience will also benefit us. “See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice.” (2 Cor 7:11). If we stay tuned to the voice of the Spirit, His gentle nudgings will push us in the right direction.
1. Earnestness
Failure is a veteran teacher of sincerity. Many errors and learning through them lead step by step to excellence in quality. During my medical internship I gave an injection in the wrong site to a dwarf who was an artist. The medicine went into the nerve sheath and his right arm was paralysed. He was disconsolate.
The magnitude of my mistake weighed me down. Everyone was sympathetic towards me except my conscience. Every molecule of my being cried. I fasted and prayed and waited anxiously for three months. His nerve did not recover. Professors pronounced the nerve dead since the time for recovery of the nerve injury was over. On the fourth month it recovered. The three months of hell will ever remain a deathless memory for me. Oh, what diligence it produced! God be praised for that whip lash at the beginning of my career. It taught me to be more responsible.
2. Eagerness
“Eagerness to clear ourselves.” The advantage of being in a body of believers is that the whole body is concerned about one’s mistake and is eager to clear it. Individuals cannot say or do as they please. An individual may fail to heed his mistake or be slack to correct himself, but if the body is eager to clear itself, it gets done. An individual's mistake, errors and sins hurt the body and provoke it to quick action. King Uzziah became proud when he was strong and dared to burn incence on the altar. When the priests stopped him, he was furious. But when the Lord struck him with leprosy “they thrust him out of that place. Indeed he also hurried to get out, because the Lord had struck him” (2 Chr 26:16-20). Mistakes and their consequences urge us to get rid of the offensive sin.
3. Indignation
The fruits of a foolish mistake are bitter herbs. No one would like to go through the pain, embarassment, suffering, shame and sorrow he went through. So we start hating what we did. We once loved wickedness and hated righteousness. Even after rebirth, we are often drawn by our love of wickedness. Unless we develop a strong indignation for evil, it is difficult to walk the path of sanctification. The outcome of our mistakes pinches us so hard that we detest the blunder and learn to avoid it like poison. We become more sensitive to recognise our straying, the moment we take a foot out of the straight path. Thus we learn to hate wickedness and love righteousness (Heb 1:9). Godly sorrow will ultimately anoint us with the oil of joy.
4. Alarm
Children sometimes tend to lose the fear or reverence for the father. But a slave will always fear his master. When God is our Father we should never forget that He is our Master too. We should love Him with reverential fear. No doubt David loved God. He celebrated the occasion of bringing in the ark with all his might before God, with songs and instruments of music. But after God's angry reaction to what happened, “David was afraid of God that day” (1 Chr 13:12). We all are afraid of God. But we need fresh revelations of God’s awesomeness that will make us ask questions like David, “How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?” “How can I ever sing for God?” “How can I ever preach?” “How can I ever write?” “How can I ever lead?” etc. That attitude will ever keep us safe. David refrained from bringing the ark for three months, but then took courage to do it again. Imagine his tenseness when he moved the ark from Obed-Edom’s house to Jerusalem. “Blessed is the man who always fears” the Lord (Prov 28:14). Whatever we are doing, let us be doing with fear and trembling before God. That will make us wiser and wiser (Prov 1:7).
5. Longing
Wrong decisions and the remorse following lead step by step to a blameless life. David writes, “Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from wilful sins that they may not rule over me . Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression” (Psa 19:12,13). He also writes about the Word of God warning him and the great reward in keeping it (v 11). When we learn to discern our errors through the warning of the Word of God we enjoy that reward. God sharpens our skills and perfects our ways. This is like the potter shaping the clay at the wheel, as seems best to Him (Jer 18:4). This effect of sanctification creates in us a longing for perfection, nothing short of becoming like the Son of God (Rom 8:29).
6. Concern
Jesus found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. Jesus made a whip out of strips of leather and chased them all out. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers spilling coins left and right and stampeded the cattle. He stormed into the dove shop and told them to get out with all their stuff and not to make His Father’s House a shopping mall. Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up” (Jn 2: 14-17). We would consider these business activities a help for those who came to worship. But Jesus’ viewpoint was different. His eyes focussed on their business mind and shift of emphasis. We are the temple of God. How easily our eyes lose their focus and become nystagmic! How the once Father’s house can gradually become a marketplace and then the next stage, of course, a den of robbers! Imagine such a scene of clean-up of ourselves. We do at times neglect the maintenance of the temple where the Most High dwells. When a failure jolts us aware, it generates in us a deep concern to clean up the trashy areas of our lives. It makes us so dependent on our Lord, crying out for His help every moment that we become a “House of Prayer.” It creates in us a passion for purity. It helps us make a clean break with bad habits that otherwise will be labelled “weaknesses.”
7. Justice
The Old Testament prophets often allegorised their prophecies when they pointed out the sins of kings (l Ki 20:37-43). When the king would pronounce the judgment of the man who committed the crime the prophet would then say that was the judgment for the king too. Nathan did it to David. The reason is, if it was a straightforward confrontation the kings would pass a lighter judgment on themselves. So it is with us. We are strict with others but soft on us. Failures teach us to be more strict with ourselves. We treat ourselves as pets and we know pets are spoilt brats. We spoil ourselves by our lenience towards self. Oh, how an error tightens the reins! David became very strict with himself to the minutest details of the Law while shifting the ark for the second time.
Don’t mistake Mistakes!
If a mistake is to have any deterrent effect we should take the time to analyse it. David could have simply said, “Oh, it was the oxen.” Many times we do that instead of facing the painful reality of our failure.
A mistake should not discourage us to give up what we attempted to do. We can’t go back but we can go forward and do a better job. David did not give up. We don’t allow God to mould us if we say, “I am not going to try again.” The smart thing to do is to admit our mistake and press on.
We walk the Christian road by doing what we feel is right, by an inspiration from within, without a clear voice or light. Each mistake goads us nearer to the path God has set for us. My father had an illiterate patient from a village for cataract surgery. After the cataract was removed and spectacles given he went home very happy. After about six months he returned to the clinic deep in sorrow. “My eyesight was perfect when I left the clinic. Then gradually it dimmed and now I am not able to see,” he said. My father examined him and diagnosed the case promptly. He had the spectacles cleaned up and put it on his nose! The patient literally jumped from his chair out of excitement.
He couldn't believe his eyes. How many of us are like this illiterate man allowing mistakes and failures to go unanalysed and not cleaned up. No wonder in course of time we lose our vision and wander.
Therefore friends, don’t mistake mistakes ! Life is a comedy of errors if we use them in the right perspective.
Dr. Lilian Stanley
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91 9843511943
lilianstanley@gmail.com
Blessing Youth Mission
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91-416-2242943, +91-416-2248943
hq@bymonline.org
www.bymonline.org
Click here for more options
To buy books written by Dr. Lilian Stanley, kindly reach to us in the follwing address
Blessing Literature Centre
21/11 West Coovam River Road,
Chintadripet,
Chennai 600 002, India.
+91-44-28450411, 8806270699
blc@bymonline.org
Don’t Mistake Mistakes !
Rahini was at the foot of the dais, heart thumping, waiting to receive the “Best Student” award. As her name rang from there, she sprang like a doe and quickly climbed the stairs. And then it happened—she slipped on her high heels and went sprawling to the floor. Some sympathetic clucking of tongues from the audience, the sound of footsteps running towards her, the whrrr of the video camera...! She was up in a moment and managed to collect her prize from the chief guest and carefully climbed down the other side. She took a seat and wished the earth would open and swallow her up. Bitter tears beaded the corner of her eyes. What her mother said casually rang in her ears: “Don’t wear your high heels, Rahini, you are still unsteady on them.” The teenager hadn’t taken it seriously.
It happens to me, it happens to you, it happens to President Clinton too. It may be a silly mistake or a sin that crushes us. An ego-bruising experience leads some to even commit suicide like Ahithopel. One should not be so fragile to be broken by a mistake. That’s a terrible mistake. It leads some highly visible people to drop out of sight and die a slow death. But to some others it serves as a springboard to torpedo their progress. It all depends on how one looks at failures. There are still others who don’t want to make mistakes and embarass themselves. They will always live in a plateau. If they can’t make a mistake they can’t make anything.
The sorrow that arises out of failure may take two different turns, according to Paul (2 Cor 7:10). It can be a godly sorrow leading to repentance and salvation (from deeper pits); or it can be a sorrow of the world leading to death. God allows such bumps in the road along Christian life that we may recognise similar yet more horrible mistakes in the future and escape them wisely. Therefore such a mistake can be the voice of God if we let it speak to us. When someone points out our mistake, he may be a God-sent prophet to exhort and uplift us or a devil to hit us on the head and dump us down the drain, depending on how we look at him and our mistake. So look at them as friends not foes.
When David was anointed king over all Israel, he wanted to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem. He consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds and with every leader. When they all agreed that it was the right thing to do, he arranged to shift the ark. When they came to Chidon's threshing floor, the Lord struck Uzza and he died, because he touched the ark to hold it when the oxen stumbled. Their music turned to mourning. David was deeply hurt and angry at the death of Uzza. After a lapse, he again decided to bring the ark. This time David said that no one but the Levites should carry the ark, and that in the prescribed way as the Lord had said (1 Chr 13-15).
What happened during the lapse of three months is not difficult to guess. There was war with the Philistines, he built him houses, married, etc. But storms were raging within him. Why did this happen to him? Why did God allow it ? Why did not his captains stop him if he was wrong? Why did not the Lord tell him what he should do and how? Where did he go wrong?
Did he not read the Scriptures and pray regularly? Did he not cry for wisdom to know God’s will day by day ? Atleast after the gruesome incident why didn’t God put His finger where he erred and speak to him? He could send a prophet. But no answers were forthcoming for the questions burning in his soul. After much soul-searching, consultation and searching of the Scriptures David located the problem. In general eventhough God was for the ark to be brought to Jerusalem, He was not pleased with the way it was done. David had failed to enquire about how to do it in the prescribed way (1 Chr 15:13). The proper order was that the Levites should carry the ark on their shoulders by poles (Ex 25:14).
Sometimes eventhough we do God's will, God is not happy about the details of it. David learned his lesson the hard way. But then he wrote, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn Your decrees” (Psa 119:71). So we see, allowing us to make mistakes is one way of God to get us back on track.
Whenever we turn to the right hand or to the left, mistakes are voices that keep telling us, “This is the way, walk in it” (Isa 30:21). Most of us are like Balaams who forsake the right way, atleast now and then. So God puts us in narrow paths, blocks our way, crushes our foot and opens the mouths of asses to prevent us making more foolish mistakes (2 Pet 2: 15,16).
Paul while writing to the Corinthian church comforts them regarding their failures. The catalogue of lessons learnt through that bitter experience will also benefit us. “See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice.” (2 Cor 7:11). If we stay tuned to the voice of the Spirit, His gentle nudgings will push us in the right direction.
1. Earnestness
Failure is a veteran teacher of sincerity. Many errors and learning through them lead step by step to excellence in quality. During my medical internship I gave an injection in the wrong site to a dwarf who was an artist. The medicine went into the nerve sheath and his right arm was paralysed. He was disconsolate.
The magnitude of my mistake weighed me down. Everyone was sympathetic towards me except my conscience. Every molecule of my being cried. I fasted and prayed and waited anxiously for three months. His nerve did not recover. Professors pronounced the nerve dead since the time for recovery of the nerve injury was over. On the fourth month it recovered. The three months of hell will ever remain a deathless memory for me. Oh, what diligence it produced! God be praised for that whip lash at the beginning of my career. It taught me to be more responsible.
2. Eagerness
“Eagerness to clear ourselves.” The advantage of being in a body of believers is that the whole body is concerned about one’s mistake and is eager to clear it. Individuals cannot say or do as they please. An individual may fail to heed his mistake or be slack to correct himself, but if the body is eager to clear itself, it gets done. An individual's mistake, errors and sins hurt the body and provoke it to quick action. King Uzziah became proud when he was strong and dared to burn incence on the altar. When the priests stopped him, he was furious. But when the Lord struck him with leprosy “they thrust him out of that place. Indeed he also hurried to get out, because the Lord had struck him” (2 Chr 26:16-20). Mistakes and their consequences urge us to get rid of the offensive sin.
3. Indignation
The fruits of a foolish mistake are bitter herbs. No one would like to go through the pain, embarassment, suffering, shame and sorrow he went through. So we start hating what we did. We once loved wickedness and hated righteousness. Even after rebirth, we are often drawn by our love of wickedness. Unless we develop a strong indignation for evil, it is difficult to walk the path of sanctification. The outcome of our mistakes pinches us so hard that we detest the blunder and learn to avoid it like poison. We become more sensitive to recognise our straying, the moment we take a foot out of the straight path. Thus we learn to hate wickedness and love righteousness (Heb 1:9). Godly sorrow will ultimately anoint us with the oil of joy.
4. Alarm
Children sometimes tend to lose the fear or reverence for the father. But a slave will always fear his master. When God is our Father we should never forget that He is our Master too. We should love Him with reverential fear. No doubt David loved God. He celebrated the occasion of bringing in the ark with all his might before God, with songs and instruments of music. But after God's angry reaction to what happened, “David was afraid of God that day” (1 Chr 13:12). We all are afraid of God. But we need fresh revelations of God’s awesomeness that will make us ask questions like David, “How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?” “How can I ever sing for God?” “How can I ever preach?” “How can I ever write?” “How can I ever lead?” etc. That attitude will ever keep us safe. David refrained from bringing the ark for three months, but then took courage to do it again. Imagine his tenseness when he moved the ark from Obed-Edom’s house to Jerusalem. “Blessed is the man who always fears” the Lord (Prov 28:14). Whatever we are doing, let us be doing with fear and trembling before God. That will make us wiser and wiser (Prov 1:7).
5. Longing
Wrong decisions and the remorse following lead step by step to a blameless life. David writes, “Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from wilful sins that they may not rule over me . Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression” (Psa 19:12,13). He also writes about the Word of God warning him and the great reward in keeping it (v 11). When we learn to discern our errors through the warning of the Word of God we enjoy that reward. God sharpens our skills and perfects our ways. This is like the potter shaping the clay at the wheel, as seems best to Him (Jer 18:4). This effect of sanctification creates in us a longing for perfection, nothing short of becoming like the Son of God (Rom 8:29).
6. Concern
Jesus found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. Jesus made a whip out of strips of leather and chased them all out. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers spilling coins left and right and stampeded the cattle. He stormed into the dove shop and told them to get out with all their stuff and not to make His Father’s House a shopping mall. Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up” (Jn 2: 14-17). We would consider these business activities a help for those who came to worship. But Jesus’ viewpoint was different. His eyes focussed on their business mind and shift of emphasis. We are the temple of God. How easily our eyes lose their focus and become nystagmic! How the once Father’s house can gradually become a marketplace and then the next stage, of course, a den of robbers! Imagine such a scene of clean-up of ourselves. We do at times neglect the maintenance of the temple where the Most High dwells. When a failure jolts us aware, it generates in us a deep concern to clean up the trashy areas of our lives. It makes us so dependent on our Lord, crying out for His help every moment that we become a “House of Prayer.” It creates in us a passion for purity. It helps us make a clean break with bad habits that otherwise will be labelled “weaknesses.”
7. Justice
The Old Testament prophets often allegorised their prophecies when they pointed out the sins of kings (l Ki 20:37-43). When the king would pronounce the judgment of the man who committed the crime the prophet would then say that was the judgment for the king too. Nathan did it to David. The reason is, if it was a straightforward confrontation the kings would pass a lighter judgment on themselves. So it is with us. We are strict with others but soft on us. Failures teach us to be more strict with ourselves. We treat ourselves as pets and we know pets are spoilt brats. We spoil ourselves by our lenience towards self. Oh, how an error tightens the reins! David became very strict with himself to the minutest details of the Law while shifting the ark for the second time.
Don’t mistake Mistakes!
If a mistake is to have any deterrent effect we should take the time to analyse it. David could have simply said, “Oh, it was the oxen.” Many times we do that instead of facing the painful reality of our failure.
A mistake should not discourage us to give up what we attempted to do. We can’t go back but we can go forward and do a better job. David did not give up. We don’t allow God to mould us if we say, “I am not going to try again.” The smart thing to do is to admit our mistake and press on.
We walk the Christian road by doing what we feel is right, by an inspiration from within, without a clear voice or light. Each mistake goads us nearer to the path God has set for us. My father had an illiterate patient from a village for cataract surgery. After the cataract was removed and spectacles given he went home very happy. After about six months he returned to the clinic deep in sorrow. “My eyesight was perfect when I left the clinic. Then gradually it dimmed and now I am not able to see,” he said. My father examined him and diagnosed the case promptly. He had the spectacles cleaned up and put it on his nose! The patient literally jumped from his chair out of excitement.
He couldn't believe his eyes. How many of us are like this illiterate man allowing mistakes and failures to go unanalysed and not cleaned up. No wonder in course of time we lose our vision and wander.
Therefore friends, don’t mistake mistakes ! Life is a comedy of errors if we use them in the right perspective.
Dr. Lilian Stanley
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91 9843511943
lilianstanley@gmail.com
Blessing Youth Mission
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91-416-2242943, +91-416-2248943
hq@bymonline.org
www.bymonline.org
Click here for more options
To buy books written by Dr. Lilian Stanley, kindly reach to us in the follwing address
Blessing Literature Centre
21/11 West Coovam River Road,
Chintadripet,
Chennai 600 002, India.
+91-44-28450411, Mob:8806270699
blc@bymonline.org
