A friend once sent me a link to a video clip that had a title, something like, “Fails Of The Week”.  I’ve since discovered that YouTube has a zillion video clips in the ‘Fail’ category.  They cover a huge range of mishaps that happen to humans and animals.  Some of them are spectacular, while others are more garden-variety Fails.  Some are quite funny, while in others I can almost feel in my own body the pain of the Fail.

The term is a telling one.  It implies that something was attempted but not achieved.  A goal was aimed at but abysmally missed.

The Bible too knows the language of ‘Fails’.  The most spectacular Fail is recorded for us in Genesis 3 and the pain of that Fail is still with us.

What got me thinking about this was some devotional reading on the life of King David.  There were two huge Fails in the life of King David that everyone is familiar with.  He failed badly to live up to the goal of marital purity and went to bed with the wife of one of his military generals.  That was a spectacular Fail.  But when Bathsheba announced that she was pregnant, King David attempted to cover up that Fail with another Fail – the murder of her husband Uriah.

Sadly, we often have the mistaken idea that the Lord, the God of the universe, gets upset with headline-making Fails but that He overlooks the more garden-variety Fails.  That has led us to censure King David for adultery and murder, while we tend to think that for the rest Israel’s greatest king led a blameless life.

Not so… unfortunately!  One could make quite a list of Fails in David’s life.  When he fled from King Saul, who was out to destroy him, he fronted up to the Priest Ahimelech and lied to him that he had been sent on urgent business for the king and needed some supplies.  This Fail led to the execution of Ahimelech and his family by a vengeful King Saul.  There are several recorded instances in which David lacks faith in God and is fearful that he will die: “…there is only a step between me and death.” (1Sam.20:3).  Obviously David had forgotten that God had already anointed him to become king over Israel – something that made him immortal until God’s purpose for him was achieved.  We could mention other instances of garden-variety Fails in the life of David.  For example, there’s his vengeful anger against Nabal who refused to support his cause (1Sam.25).  And there are his lies to the Philistine king when he pretends he’s been fighting against his own people (1Sam.28).

Fails are embarrassing.  In the ancient world, rulers never allowed their Fails to be recorded – only their successes.  In that respect the Bible is unique.  Its most renowned characters are described “warts and all”.  I can readily list eight recorded Fails on the part of King David.

Why is the Bible so brutally honest about its greatest men and women?  For two reasons!  First, to show us that we all need God’s forgiveness and grace.  Garden variety Fails need the atoning work of David’s greatest Son, Jesus, just as much as do the more spectacular, headline-making Fails.

A second reason is to help us look to the One in whose life there were no Fails.  Jesus Christ not only paid the penalty for all our Fails to meet God’s set goals, He also empowers us to overcome our Fails and has provided us with the wonderful prospect of a glorious future when Fails will be a thing of the past.

John Westendorp