What to Say When We Lose
Breathlessly, she waited for the results. It was her third try to qualify for her bucket-list race: the Boston Marathon. Moments later, she knew (as did her friends and family cheering her on). All her months of long, hard training still couldn’t cut it. Several runners finished faster, and her best efforts failed. She wasn’t sure what was worse, the immediate disappointment or the encroaching shame that always came with losing.
But God’s view of success is so vastly different from ours. To Him, the only failure is losing our focus on Him. What looks like loss to us is His formula for true victory. Character forged through failure yields a perseverance that pleases our Savior, unlike sudden success. When we turn our dwindling hopes and decimated dreams over to His sovereignty, we see a better beauty rising from the ashes.
But in the throes of defeat, victory is hard to see. That’s why God brings us alongside our brothers and sisters in the trenches. We can speak to the mystery of God’s ways and the goodness of His plans, and we can push our friends from their place of defeat to the feet of our Savior, who will ease the hurt and help them to grow from it.
Life-Giving Words for When We Lose
He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and they will trust in the LORD. PSALM 40:2–3
If this setback hadn’t happened, people wouldn’t get to witness the miraculous redemption God will work through you. Just watch and see!
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. I PETER 5:6 NIV
I am so proud of you for putting yourself out there and doing your best. Even though you didn’t get the results you wanted, your dedication and resilience are truly incredible.
Though a righteous person falls seven times, he will get up, but the wicked will stumble into ruin. PROVERBS 24:16
It’s not that we don’t fall—we all do. It’s just that Jesus, who holds our hand, keeps the fall from being a permanent position.
It was good for me to be afflicted so that I could learn your statutes. PSALM 119:71
God teaches us deeper truths through our mistakes than through our successes.
“I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name.” REVELATION 3:8
Don’t let this obstacle get you down. God will open the right door for you at the right time if you trust and wait for Him.
