Do You Have the Resilience to Bounce Back?
Good Morning Friends,
Job’s so called friends called him stupid and sinful but he bounced back from that and painful diseases and the loss of property and family too. Sampson bounced back after being tricked by a woman and blinded. David bounced back after being a murderer and adulterer. Daniel was thrown in the Lion’s Den for praying to God but he bounced back to prosper in a foreign country. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were placed in a fiery furnace because they would not worship false gods but they bounced back and were promoted. Jacob bounced back after wrestling with the angel to realize that God uses our weaknesses. Noah bounced back after the flood. Abraham bounced back after offering Isaac. Joseph bounced back after the betrayal of his brothers and false imprisonment in a foreign country. Paul bounced back after persecuting Christians and being in a shipwreck and in prison pressing on to gain the Spirit and strength of Christ. Jesus bounced back after facing Satan in the wilderness. And I imagine that some of you have bounced back after the death of a loved one, or from disease, loss of a job or divorce or addictions. Some of you have fought back from depression. And the amazing thing in life is that the very thing that seemed to be the biggest battle and defeat can propel one into the future with a purpose. Do You Have the Resilience to Bounce Back?
Scripture: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for
the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:5-14 (NRSV)
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
John 10:10 (NRSV)
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
Job 42:10 (NRSV)
Message: The Bible teaches us that our past failures can become the beginnings of a great comeback. What you thought was loss can indeed be gain. If you have ever played sports you know what it means to bounce back. If you have suffered a defeat you know the need to come back with a win. The difference between people who thrive and people who decline over a long period of time is not that they don’t get knocked down; it’s that they bounce back up. Think of Jonah who started out running from God, but ended up influencing a whole city. Think of Thomas who started out with doubt but ended up taking the gospel all the way to India. Think of Peter who lied under pressure but ended up a great preacher and leader. Think of John Mark who was rejected as a quitter but ended up tapped by the Spirit of God to write the first Gospel. Friends, a great comeback is possible. It doesn’t matter what failure you have gone through or which one you are going through right now. God still has a plan for your life and a place for you in this world. God is flexible enough to use whatever difficulty we might face to form us for a holy purpose.
Pray we bounce back. Pray our trials and tribulations form us and sanctify us. Pray we have the resilience to not only survive but to thrive. Pray we allow God to teach us, motivate, and grow us through our failures. Pray we face failure as a way for God’s plan for our life to be revealed. Pray we learn to use our experiences of defeat to create a comeback. Pray we have hope that will spring us forward into a calling.
Pray that we have courage to take up the challenge of changing our lives. Pray that we forget our failures…forgiving ourselves. Pray that we give up our grudges….forgiving others. Pray that we restore relationships by discovering Jesus in them. Pray that we not give up. Pray that we not look back. Pray that we fix our eyes on Jesus. Pray that we realize that the credit for every good thing belongs to God. Pray that we, in faith, keep running the race with Jesus. Pray we not let sickness bury our faith. Pray we not let the devastation of divorce depress. Pray we are determined to reach the destiny God has planned for us. Pray we not be frustrated over finances or rotten relationships but press forward past the pain of the past toward the promises of God. Pray we bounce back.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 