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We are human. We are fallible. We constantly make mistakes and mess up, but God understands. He will always accept us back.
We are sinners born that way from the start. God still reaches out to us. God still came and died in our place, even as we continued to rebel against Him. The more people rebelled the more Gods Grace was extended towards us. Mankind has been plagued with sin from the beginning. We fight and quarrel, complain, become jealous, greedy, prideful and even hateful going after the pleasures of this world and our own “right” way. Even so, God loves us and in His mercy has compassion on us. He understands us and wants to help us. He sees how lost we are and made a way for us back to Him. (Romans 5:8-9, Romans 5:10-11, Romans 5:20, Proverbs 14:12, James 4:1-3)
He pulls us through His Holy Spirit and draws us to Himself. He doesn’t want anyone to perish, but all to come to know Him. (John 12:32, 2 Peter 3:9)
So when we do accept Him as our savior and give our lives to Him, we are freed from our sinful nature and given a new nature through the Holy Spirit. We then have power over sin and have the power to resist temptation through His Holy Spirit. Before knowing Christ we didn’t have that power. (1 John 5:4)
Still we rebel at times, but He loves us and calls us a His children. Even though as we walk with Him we can drift and go our own way. We can fall into sin again. If we are not careful we can loose focus on God, but He is still there, waiting for our return. He isn’t just watching and waiting, but actively calling us back. He understands our weaknesses and temptations. He always offers a way out. With open arms He will always accept us back when we repent and return to Him humbly. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Christians are still human and do make mistakes and failures. We mess up, sometimes in big ways. We are not perfect and won’t be until we reach heaven. Gods mercy and grace are always there for us. (Hebrews 4:16)
Many of those who followed God in the Old and New Testament made mistakes. Yet God used them greatly even weaving the mistakes into His plan. Only He can redeem our messes and failures when we give them to Him.
Abraham traveled at Gods command from his homeland to the promise land God directed him to. Along the way Abraham lied and told those in foreign lands that he was staying in and traveling through that his beautiful wife was his sister. Abraham was afraid of the people. He thought if he told the truth they would kill him to get his wife. A king of one of the lands almost took Abraham’s wife as his wife believing she was Abraham’s sister. That was until God warned him in a dream. Then Abraham was kicked out of that land. (Genesis 12:11-13, Genesis 12:14-16, Genesis 12:17-20)
God still used and blessed Abraham to become a great nation that in turn blessed the world. The Israelites were descendants of Abraham and out of them came Jesus the Messiah and the Good News for all the people of the world. God made Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the sand and blessed the world through them.
Moses argued with God, complaining he could not do the work God had called him to do. He could not speak good enough and was not cut out for the job God gave him. God persisted and sent Aaron the brother of Moses to speak for Moses. Earlier in Moses’s life he had even killed an Egyptian slave master who had just beaten an Israelite slave. Later on the way to the promise land after freeing the Israelites from Pharaoh and the land of Egypt through God’s power, Moses became very frustrated with the Israelites disbelief. When Moses went to perform a miracle God had told him to do his anger got the best of him and he disobeyed Gods instructions to tap the rock once for water. Instead Moses hit the rock twice with his staff. (Exodus 3:10-12, Exodus 3:13-14, Exodus 4:1-5, Exodus 4:6-9, Exodus 4:10-12, Exodus 4:13-14, Exodus 4:15-17, Numbers 20:2, Numbers 20:6-8, Numbers 20:9-10, Numbers 20:11, Numbers 20:12)
God used Moses in spite of all this. God did punish him and not allow him to enter the promise land because of his disobedience. Moses was the leader and leaders have great responsibility because others look to them. Still God used his life greatly to lead the people out of Egypt and to the promise land. God also used Moses to write a lot of the Old Testament. God gave Moses His laws to give to the people. God met face to face with Moses many times. God gave Moses the instructions for building His tabernacle in the wilderness.
Jacob deceived his twin brother, Esau, who was the firstborn. Jacob tricked his brother Esau into giving up His birthright as the first born. Esau was very hungry one time after hunting and Jacob who had just cooked a hearty stew used the opportunity to trick Esau into giving it up for a bowl of stew. Later Jacob tricked his father into giving him the blessing of the first born instead of his brother Esau. He disguised himself as his brother Esau and because Jacob was old and almost blind he was able to trick his father into thinking it was Esau and giving Jacob the blessing of the fist born. (Genesis 25:27-28, Genesis 25:29-30, Genesis 25:31-34, Genesis 27:1-4, Genesis 27:5-10, Genesis 27:11-13, Genesis 27:14-17, Genesis 27:18-22, Genesis 27:23)
God used it in His plan to make a great nation. He blessed Jacob and his sons making the nation and tribes of Israel from their families. Eventually the Messiah came from one of the tribes and salvation was brought to the world.
Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him because he was the favorite son. Joseph also had a couple dreams of his brothers serving him which also made them dislike him. So they plotted against Joseph. First they wanted to kill him, but one of the brothers protested. He said why should they shed blood, instead they should put him in a deep empty cistern nearby and let him die there. His plan was to rescue him later. Meanwhile that brother left. After the other brothers put him in the cistern, one of them saw a traveling bunch going to Egypt so he suggested they sell Joseph to them. They agreed. Before they threw him into the cistern they had taken Joseph’s tunic, the one of many colors specially made for him. After they sold Joseph to the traveling group going to Egypt they took Joseph’s tunic and killed a goat and dipped his tunic in the blood to make it look like he had been killed by a wild animal. (Genesis 37:18-20, Genesis 37:21-22, Genesis 37:23-24, Genesis 37:25-26, Genesis 37:27-28, Genesis 37:29-32, Genesis 37:33-35)
God was with Joseph and helped him prosper in Egypt. Then Joseph endured hardship for many years after being falsely accused of trying to seduce the wife of his boss. She made it look like he came after her when in fact she was the one coming after him. He refused her and she made up a story. Joseph was sent to prison for many years. (Genesis 39:1-4, Genesis 39:5-6, Genesis 39:7-8, Genesis 39:9-10, Genesis 39:11-12, Genesis 39:13-15, Genesis 39:16-18, Genesis 39:19-20)
He was forgotten in prison, but not by God. God was still with him and helped him gain favor with the head of the prison. Joseph even correctly interpreted, through God’s help, the dreams of two staff of the Pharaoh. One was restored to his position and the other was executed. The one restored had promised to speak of Joseph to the Pharaoh, but forgot about him. That was until Pharaoh had a dream two years later that no one could interpret. Then he remembered Joseph and told Pharaoh all about how Joseph could interpret dreams. (Genesis 39:21-23, Genesis 40:1-4, Genesis 40:5-8, Genesis 40:9-11, Genesis 40:12-13, Genesis 40:14-15, Genesis 40:16-17, Genesis 40:18-19, Genesis 40:20-22, Genesis 40:23)
Joseph interpreted Pharaohs dream and was promoted to the second highest position in the land of Egypt. God was sending several years of bountiful crops and then several years of terrible famine. Joseph helped Egypt prepare and be the life source for Egypt and surrounding nations through the years of famine, by having enough food stored for everyone from the years of prosperity. (Genesis 41:1-4, Genesis 41:5-7, Genesis 41:8-10, Genesis 41:11-13, Genesis 41:14-16, Genesis 41:17-28, Genesis 41:19-20, Genesis 41:20-21, Genesis 41:22-24, Genesis 41:25, Genesis 41:26-27, Genesis 41:28-29, Genesis 41:30-32, Genesis 41:33-34, Genesis 41:35-36, Genesis 41:37-38, Genesis 41:39-40, Genesis 41:41-42)
God used what Joseph’s brothers meant for evil and turned it into good. He used it to save the country of Egypt as well as many people of the surrounding nations including his own family who would come to live in Egypt with Joseph. His brothers would also become the tribes of Israel along with Joseph’s sons. The family was respected in Egypt until a Pharaoh rose up that knew nothing of Joseph and what he did. Then the Israelites who had grown greatly in population, making the Egyptians afraid they would take over Egypt, were made slaves to Pharaoh. Then some 400 years later the Israelites would be freed from Slavery to Pharaoh and begin their journey to the promise land. Then many generations after that the Messiah would be born and God plan of salvation to the world put in motion.
Samson married a Philistine woman, which was against Gods law. The Israelites were to only marry within their tribes. Samson’s parents protested, but God was at work using his marriage as a way to destroy the Philistines. (Judges 14:1-2, Judges 14:3, Judges 14:4, Judges: 14:10-11, Judges 14:12-13, Judges 14:14, Judges 14:15-16, Judges 14:17, Judges 14:18, Judges 14:19-20)
Samson was very strong. He was dedicated to God as a child and God was with Him and gave him super strength. The Philistines wanted to capture him and know how to break his strength. He had already destroyed many of the Philistines in anger over what they did to his first wife. They could not hold him because of his strength. He would just break free no matter what they did. (Judges 15:1-2, Judges 15:3-5, Judges, 15:6, Judges 15:7-8, Judges 15:9-10, Judges 15:11-13, Judges 15:14-15, Judges 15:18-19, Judges 15:20, Judges 16:4-5, Judges 16:15-16, Judges 16:17, Judges 16:18, Judges 16:19-20, Judges 16:1-3)
Later he married again. Samson’s second wife persisted in trying to find out the reason for his strength. She tricked him until he told her the truth that it was his long hair. Then she shaved it off and he was bound and tortured and put in prison by the Philistines. (Judges 16:4-5, Judges 16:15-16, Judges 16:17, Judges 16:18, Judges 16:19, Judges 16:20, Judges 16:21-22)
In the end God gave Samson his strength back for one final time and he destroyed more Philistines then, than before in His life. (Judges 16:23-24, Judges 16:25, Judges 16:26, Judges 16:27, Judges 16:28, Judges 16:29, Judges 16:30, Judges 16:31)
The Philistines were one nation the Israelites were to destroy as judgement for the sin of the Philistines in order to take possession of the promise land. God helped them in this way.
David planned a murder to cover up the adultery he committed. He saw another mans wife and wanted her. The man was a soldier in a King David’s army and was away at war. David got the wife pregnant. So to cover it up, he first called the husband back from the war and tried to get him to go home and sleep with his wife so he would think the pregnancy was his. The husband was committed to his mission in David’s army. So David tried to get the husband drunk enough that he would go home, but that didn’t work. So he sent the husband back to the war and gave orders to have him placed at the most dangerous place on the frontline and therefore he would be killed. That is what happened. The husband was killed. After the wife mourned, David took her as his wife. (2 Samuel 11:1, 2 Samuel 11:2-3, 2 Samuel 11:4-5, 2 Samuel 11:6-7, 2 Samuel 11:8-9, 2 Samuel 11:10, 2 Samuel 11:11, 2 Samuel 11:12-13, 2 Samuel 11:14-15, 2 Samuel 11:16-17, 2 Samuel 11:18-19, 2 Samuel 11:20, 2 Samuel 11:21, 2 Samuel 11:22-23, 2 Samuel 11:24-25, 2 Samuel 11:26-27)
God punished David severely when he took the child’s that they had together. Even still God wove His salvation plan into it. Another child, Solomon, who David and His new wife had later would be part of the family line leading to Jesus.
Peter was impulsive. He is the disciple that when witnessing the transfiguration of Jesus, he offered to make three memorials, one for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. He requested to walk on water to Jesus after Jesus came towards the disciples in a boat in the middle of the night. Peter drew his sword when Jesus was arrested and slashed off the ear of a slave of the the high priest. He declared he would not desert Jesus or deny him when Jesus predicted Peter would. Peter was rebuked by Paul for changing his behavior depending on if he was around Jews or Gentiles. (Matthew 17:2-4, Matthew 14:25-27, Matthew 14:28-29, John 18:10-11, Galatians 2:11-12, Galatians 2:13-14)
Even so, God used Peter greatly. Peter had an extensive ministry and experienced miracles when put in prison for his faith. He spoke to the crowd who gathered when the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples and many other believers causing them to speak in many languages full of power in the Holy Spirit. The crowd thought they were drunk, but Peter told the Good News and many believed. He spoke boldly to the religious leaders who imprisoned him and threatened him after he healed a man in Jesus’s name. He even wrote part of the New Testament. God showed him the message of salvation was not just for the Jews but but also for the Gentiles, all the people of the world. God showed Peter that He shows no favoritism to one group over another. God wants all to be saved.
John Mark deserted the early church missionaries in the middle of a mission trip. Because of this on the next missionary trip, Paul refused to Let John Mark come along. This caused an argument between Paul and Barnabas who wanted John to come along. Paul was adamant and so Paul and Barnabas went separate ways. Paul took who he wanted with him one way and Barnabas took John Mark with him another way. Later Paul recognized John Mark’s spiritual growth and partnered with him in ministry. Paul called John helpful to his ministry. Acts 15:37-38, Acts 15:39-40, 2 Timothy 4:11)
This proved good for the early church though because it spread the Gospel even more, to more areas and people. God used it grow the the church significantly. John Mark also grew as this time he did not desert them and eventually wrote the gospel of Mark through the inspiration of God.
Conclusion
In spite of our flaws and mistakes God can still use you and me. He understands our weaknesses, having been human Himself and temped and tried in every way. So we can approach Him for forgiveness. (Hebrews 4:14-15)
The world is full of sin, full of sinners, yet God brought about His salvation plan to show His love and mercy to us even while we still rebelled against Him. He can turn mistakes into something good we never could have imagined. He alone knows how to work things out. Time and again He has transformed lives and communities for His Kingdom no matter the circumstance or situation. He always offers mercy, grace and forgiveness. A second chance over and over again to return to Him try again. When we give Him our failures and mistakes we can watch Him work and create a beautiful picture where we could see nothing.
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