| II Samuel 17:23 “And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulcher of his father.” This morning, I would like to tell you how to succeed at failing. The best way to teach you this matter is to look at a man who was a grand success at utter failure. Ahithophel was a trusted advisor to Absalom. His advice to Absalom in II Samuel 17 was defeated by God because “the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.” So what did Ahithophel do? He “put his household in order, and hanged himself.” He had enough good sense and foresight to set his house in order but not enough to keep from hanging himself! He was a brilliant man with influence (see II Samuel 16:23) that was a complete success at failure!
Ahithophel was not a failure because he gave bad advice or failed to look ahead; he was a failure because he succeeded at the wrong thing! Simply put, failure is succeeding at the wrong thing. If you want to succeed at failing like Ahithophel, invest in the here and now. Ahithophel invested in now (putting his house in order) but failed to see the now in light of eternity. Investing your time, money, and resources into only the present will guarantee that you will be a success…at failing!
Second of all, if you want to succeed at failing, invest in yourself. If you only invest in yourself, build yourself, trust yourself, and live to yourself, you are set up perfectly to succeed at failing! Ahithophel was only concerned with his counsel and the fact thathis advice was not heeded.
C.H. Spurgeon said of Ahithophel, “His case teaches us that the greatest worldly wisdom will not preserve a man from the utmost folly.” A man who is very wise in this world can be very foolish when it comes to eternity. May God help us to succeed in eternal things-things that really matter. Succeeding at the wrong thing is absolute failure! |
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Camp Quotes… “If you are going to be an encourager, you will have to learn to deal with disappointment.”
-Evangelist Nathan McConnell
Prayer Requests: 1. Groups traveling to camp this weekend from Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio,Mississippi, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, and Florida 2. A special word from Brother Rice about summer staff needs… |