Psalm 37:23-24
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the LORD upholds him with His hand”
- DAILY READING – 1 Corinthians 11:1-16; 2 Kings 4; Amos 9
Until 1996, the US Women’s Olympic Gymnastics Team had never won a gold medal. It seemed they were always coming behind other countries. But at the 1996 Olympics, they were determined this time to win a gold medal. The team was made up of seven women, who came to be known as ‘the magnificent 7’.
Kerri Strug ,18 years of age, was the anchor on this Gymnastics Team. At the final competition they were up against the Russian team, and it looked like the Russians were going to cart away the gold. Though the US team had started well, one of the team members had performed poorly thereby giving the Russians a chance.
Then finally, it was time for the last performance from the US team. This would be the deciding factor if the US won the gold or not. This last performance was to be taken by the team’s best vaulter, Kerri. The gold medal now depended on her performance. Spectators held their breath as she began sprinting down the runway; She hit the vault, flipped in the air, but only to come crashing down in a fall. It was a disappointing performance. Her score was not enough to tip the scale in her team’s favor. But worse yet, she had injured her left ankle when she landed. Now unable to walk properly she was hobbling. Yet, she still had one more performance before the final score by the judges. Many people wondered if she would be able to perform that last vault.
As she sat on the edge of the mat with an ice pack on her ankle, it looked impossible that she could make another try. But to everyone’s surprise, she got up and hobbled to the judges, acknowledging that she was ready to take her last vault.
Her ankle and her head were throbbing, but she took a deep breath and said a prayer, “Please God help me make this vault.” Temporarily pushing her pain aside, Kerri once again began her sprint down the runway; she hit the vault, twisted in the air and made her landing without falling. She stood just long enough for it to be scored.
As the score flashed on the large board, the crowd inside the Georgia Dome erupted with joy; the Americans went wild with jubilation. She had hit a high score. And the score had given the American team the desired victory. It seemed the entire nation rose to their feet on that day. Despite her initial failure, Kerri had endured the excruciating pain of an injured ankle, to achieve an amazing performance. It would become one of the greatest Olympic moments of all time!
After the score was posted, Kerri fell to the mat holding her left ankle, her face grimacing with pain. In her second landing, she had torn two ligaments in her left ankle and was now unable to walk off the mat on her own. She had to be carried and supported.
However, her heroic effort had ensured that the American Woman’s Gymnastic Team won their first team gold medal ever. Kerri’s fall on the first vault, though it was important, was not the story. It was how Kerri Strug got up after the fall that made this event one of the most significant in U.S. woman’s gymnastics.
Proverbs 24:16 says ‘for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.’
Often times in the journey of life we may fall at some point. Being righteous does not mean absence of failure or trials in one’s life. The righteous may fall, but he gets back up again, he doesn’t stay down, he rises. Failure, in some sense, is inevitable. It’s how you react to it that matters.
As we journey through life, we may at some points do things we are not proud of. We may make mistakes we wish we never made. But what matters is not that we fall, but how we react to the fall. We can bounce back up and fight through the pain like Kerri or we can choose to lie on the floor and wallow in our pain. We must understand that failure is not equal to defeat. Every man fails, but not all accept defeat. Therefore don’t allow your failure to graduate to defeat. Arise and try to fight again. Never fold your hands if you don’t want life to fold up on you. No matter where you may have fallen, get up and keep moving forward.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. The worst failure of life is failure to try. Those who try again will triumph again. We can take advantage of our failure by learning from what we have done wrong. If we failed through sin, then we need to, repent, and lay hold of God’s forgiveness. We need not drown in guilt or become blinded to God’s mercy. We can always swim back to shore, helped by the incoming tide of God’s grace. Morally speaking, no one has a perfect score. Everyone, even Peter the Apostle at some time failed the Master.
But thank God, we serve the God of a second chance, He is the God who prefers to mend rather than discard. God is a potter who works with mud and is able to take that which is marred and remake it into a thing of beauty again. God loves to restore the broken and brittle and then parade them before the world as trophies of His grace.
We are all products of His grace. Apostle Paul said ‘I am what I am by the grace of God’. When we are weak, He remains strong. And it is by His grace that the race is made great.
God’s commitment in Christ is to mend, heal and help us along the way, as we travel on this journey of life.
Psalm 37:23-24 says
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the LORD upholds him with His hand”
God upholds us by His mercy. He is able to restore us if we miss the way. He is able to keep us strong against the storms of life. Therefore as we run this race, let us keep looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Let us not rely on our own strength, but rather on God’s grace. Let us learn always to come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
PRAYER: Father please enable me to always rely on Your grace and mercy. Please help me to keep moving forward no matter what trials and temptations may come my way. May Your grace always be sufficient for me in Jesus Name.
quote :
For you to enjoy victory in the Kingdom of God, you need to develop a Kingdom mindset, that thinks in line with the Word of God. – WORDBITE 222.