Fighting the Feeling of Failure

By Jane Irmler, May 13, 2023

Fighting the Feeling of Failure

Jane Irmler

Genesis 3:20-24 ESV

20 The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.[g] 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. 22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

I. If Satan can you, he can you.

Genesis 3:3

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 

  1. That thought will take root and it will grow.

Remember: It will soon take over your identity.

  1. Failure makes us hide.

II. Disappointment will lead to .

Genesis 4:1-2, 8

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”  2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. (Vs. 8)

  1. Disappointment can define you.
  2. Disappointment can derail you.

III. It’s not the problem itself, it’s how we react to the problem. What you do after the problem is what matters.

Genesis 4: 25-26

25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed[g] for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”  26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.