TEMPORARY TRIUMPHS AND FAILURES

Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and put him to death; but there was no sword in David’s hand. 

1 Samuel 17:50

One year in high school I played on the school chess team against other area schools. A team consisted of 6 boards/players ranked from 1 to 6, and in a match players ranked the same played each other. Wins and ties scored points and the team with the most points was the winner. We had a team coming up that was particularly strong, so our advisor decided our best chance of winning was to sacrifice a board by moving our sixth board (me) up to play their first board. Thus everyone else moved up and had a better chance of winning. During the match the advisors walked around evaluating the progress of the games and agreed that I would lose. However, I had a strong end game and won, and our team earned enough points to win the match! It was a sweet win for both the team and me personally. But victory can be short lived, and I finished the season back at sixth board.

  David had a life of tremendous triumphs, like his defeat of Goliath. But that was only temporary as he also had failures after that, like his adultery with Bathsheba. But that, too, was only temporary. Why? Because he did not make excuses but repented and continued to serve God. Though forgiven there were still consequences, but David loved and trusted God.

  Dear Christian—do not let your triumphs swell you with pride and turn you away from putting God first. Do not let your failures keep you from repentance, accepting God’s forgiveness, and continuing to serve Him.

Jeffrey Eno