HRO: (4) Preoccupation with Failure

Psalm 37 describes how God preserves and protects His people, while “the wicked” who oppose Him and His people ultimately fail.  Verses 3 through 9 include such statements as “Trust in the Lord and do good…delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart”, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him…He will make your righteousness shine…the justice of your cause like noonday sun…”, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him…refrain from evil and turn from wrath…for evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit land.”

Trust…delight…commit…be still…wait patiently…. We are admonished to include our Lord God in our lives in a daily, intentional way; to trust in His timing and His outcomes.  However, the promised outcome of “victory over the wicked” seems metaphorical at best, unrelated and irrelevant at worst for those of us reading with 21^st century eyes and ears.  But how are the wicked described?  They “plot against the righteous” (v 12), “bring down the poor and needy” (v 14), they borrow but don’t pay back (v 21), they lie in wait to entrap the righteous (v 32), they appear to be extremely successful but their success is temporary (v 35).  

The wicked are those who oppose God’s people and God’s plans.  But the wicked could also be you and me, giving in to our sinful and selfish motivations.  The apparent green-tree success of the wicked looks tempting, and it is so easy for the strong to trample over the meek and helpless in our pursuit of success and security.  Trusting and waiting and committing to God requires not just patience but obedience; and since the Garden of Eden, obedience has not been the forte of humankind.  “The wicked lie in wait for the righteous” we are told in verse 32; but in Romans 7, Paul confesses for all of us when he says “what I hate to do I do….nothing good lives in me…” (Romans 7: 14-20).  Our own nature lies in wait for us, to tempt and trick and trap us.  Satan too prowls like a roaring lion, looking for opportunity to tempt us to sin; if we are not aware of his presence and his motivations, we will be caught unprepared and defenseless. 

The HRO principle of “preoccupation with failure” specifically deals with attentiveness to the possibility of, and warning signs for, system and process failure.  It’s an attitude which simultaneously rejects failure as a possible outcome—failure is intolerable—but also recognizes that failures can, do and will occur.  The only way to prevent failure is to be alert and watchful for it.  There is a mental tension that must be present to be preoccupied with failure:  we are attempting to simultaneously believe that we will fail but that we cannot allow ourselves to fail.  To hold that tension requires alertness and attentiveness, but also an enduring hopefulness and self-forgiveness.  HROs call that hopefulness and forgiveness commitment to resilience, but that’s another discussion.  To become highly reliable, we must confess our sins and our tendency to sin, and commit ourselves to righteousness.  We must trust…delight…commit…be still, and we must “turn from evil and do good” (v 27).  If we fail to recognize our propensity for sin we will fall victim to both our own sinfulness and to the influences of others because we will see no reason for alertness—we will fail to be preoccupied with failure.  We may also be shocked and completely derailed when failures come.  Preoccupation with failure is essential to life on earth where we are wrapped in sinful flesh, surrounded by sinful people, hunted by Satan.

Psalm 37: 39-40 says that “The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; He is their stronghold in time of trouble.  The Lord helps them and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in Him.” 1 John 1: 9 says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  The Lord helps and delivers; He is faithful and forgives.  We desire His righteousness, we want to not fail—but we will.  We must be alert to failure, to the weakness of our own flesh and the prowling aggressions of Satan; we must be preoccupied with failure.  But we also must recognize that there is forgiveness available from our Heavenly Father, bought and paid for by the blood of Christ Jesus.  Our preoccupation with failure is not an attempt at human perfection to earn God’s favor, but because of His holiness and out of gratitude for the magnitude of His love and mercy.  

1)      What does the phrase “preoccupation with failure” bring to mind for you?  Is it intimidating and threatening?  Unrealistic?  Negative and depressing?  How can God’s righteousness in Christ allow you to be preoccupied by failure without being overwhelmed by it?

2)      How does your awareness of the reality of “the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh” give you a realistic—no “rose colored glasses”—perspective of the possibilities of failure?  How does that awareness prepare you both to prevent failure through planning, and to be merciful and just when failure occurs?

3)      “The wicked” appear to have worldly success which may make their ways appealing.  How can the appeal of success be opposed to a preoccupation with failure in your professional sphere of influence?  For example, can the demands for efficiency tempt you to cut corners and create unsafe conditions—“to bring down the poor and needy….but their swords will pierce their own hearts….” (Psalm 37: 14, 15)?