When you Feel Like A Failure: Learning to be Dependent on Our Dependable God

Gretchen Saffles knows what it’s like to struggle to put Jesus first daily. During a season of spiritual discouragement, a simple three-word phrase became planted in her heart that helped reframe how she desired to start her days, spend her time, and shape her mindset: Word before world. When Gretchen began looking first to Jesus, she realized that while the Bible never changes, it always changes us. It’s my joy to open God’s Word and grow in grace with Gretchen on the farm porch today…

Guest Post by Gretchen Saffles

“He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light by night. They asked, and he brought quail, and gave them bread from heaven in abundance. He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river. For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham, his servant”( Psalm 105:39-42).

I slip out the door of my daughter’s room and lean my head on the scuffed-up wall in front of me.

I’m such a failure, I think as I hear my baby crying and one of my sons yelling for me downstairs. I’m failing as a mother, failing as a friend, failing at organizing our home and our schedule, failing at keeping my attitude like Christ’s.

The list could go on, but at the core is the belief that I have to be perfect. If perfection is the bar I’m reaching for, then I am failing. 

“I am imperfect and dependent; he is perfect and perfectly dependable.“

I am failing at being limitless. 

I am failing at being God. 

That’s because I was never meant to be perfect or limitless—and I certainly wasn’t meant to be God.

I am created; he is my Creator. 

I am bound by time, by the ticking of the clock, and by the restraints of my body; he is eternal, limitless, omnipresent. 

I am imperfect and dependent; he is perfect and perfectly dependable.

I slide to the floor, listening to my baby wrestling herself to sleep in her crib. She is overtired, and so am I. She’s dependent on me to care for her—to provide food and protection and even to put her down for a nap.

Dependent. This three-syllable word swirls around in my head. What an accurate way to view who I am too.

I am dependent on my dependable God, I repeat to myself. 

Life looks different through this filter. More hopeful. More faithful. More grateful. More joy- full .

During the Israelites’ forty-year stint of wandering in the wilderness, they were utterly dependent on God. They depended on God for direction, so he led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (see Exodus 13:21).

“I am dependent on my dependable God… Life looks different through this filter. More hopeful. More faithful. More grateful. More joy-full.“

They depended on God for victory, and he taught them countless times that victory belonged to him (see Exodus 14:18; 17:15-16).

They depended on God for food, so he rained down a mysterious bread from heaven called manna (see Exodus 16:4).

They depended on God for water, and God provided through a rock (see Exodus 17:1-7).

They depended on God for wisdom about how to live, so God provided the Law (see Exodus 20–24).

They depended on God for a place of worship, and God provided the Tabernacle (see Exodus 25–40).

But the Israelites’ dependence did not end once their wandering was over. Once they were in the Promised Land, they still depended on God for forgiveness and restoration. They still depended on God as they waited for the promised Messiah.

Why do we think we can live apart from the help of God?

“But the truth is, we are fully dependent on God—and he is fully dependable.“

Our pride persuades us we can do everything on our own strength. We think we don’t need to be forgiven because we haven’t done anything that wrong, or we don’t need God-fueled patience because we can muster it up from our own reserves, or we don’t need help because we are self-sufficient. But the truth is, we are fully dependent on God—and he is fully dependable.

I push myself up from my kneeling position on the carpet and walk into my daughter’s room, humbled by the Holy Spirit’s conviction, hopeful in the help of my fully dependable God.

Grow in Grace: How have you labeled yourself a failure? Does this line up with the truth of how God sees you through the eyes of grace? How can you change your perspective to focus on God’s dependability to forgive, provide, guide, and offer a fresh start in Jesus?

Gretchen Saffles is the founder of Well-Watered Women, an online ministry that reaches women worldwide with the hope of the gospel. She is the bestselling author of The Well-Watered Woman: Rooted in Truth, Growing in Grace, Flourishing in Faith; has written several Bible studies; and is the creator of the Give Me Jesus journal, a tool to help women study Scripture daily. On any given day, you can find her with a cup of coffee in hand, a message stirring in her soul, and a God-sized dream in her heart. Gretchen lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, Greg, and three children, Nolan, Haddon, and Emelyn.

In her newest devotional, Word before World: 100 Devotions to Put Jesus First, Gretchen reminds us that anytime is the right time to read the Word of God. Through Gretchen’s honest struggles and encouraging teaching, you’ll discover ways to

conquer the daily distractions that get in the way of time with Goddevelop a daily rhythm of seeking Jesusset aside your phone, lists, and plans in order to seek direction and nourishment in God’s Word insteadtransform your worldview, schedule, dreams, and desires to align with God’s purpose for your life

You are invited to experience God’s faithfulness and goodness in the pages of Scripture. Cultivate a deep love for God in this 100-day devotional journey as you learn to put God’s Word before the distractions of this world, believing that he will meet your every need. 

{Our humble thanks to Tyndale for their partnership in today’s devotional.}