A Lesson on Failure from the Jedi // Proverbs 24:16
It’s Star Wars Day when fans of the space opera will offer greetings of, “May the 4th Be With You.” I’ve been reflecting some on the pain of failure recently. It hurts, doesn’t it? I have such a perfectionist streak in me that I fear failure to a point that can be almost crippling. There have been times in my life when I intentionally didn’t try my best when “attempting” something hard so I could shrug it off as opposed to trying my best and failing anyway. If you’re like me, we might need to embrace the Japanese proverb, “Fall down seven times, get up eight.” Biblically speaking, the number, seven, relates to completion. We can read this Japanese proverb through the lens as though God wants to tell us that even when we fear we’ve failed completely, we still need to get up and persevere.
George Lucas found inspiration from the Japanese Samurai for his Jedi Knights. I cannot help but think about a teaching from Star Wars’ Yoda in connecting these ideas and overlaying it with the idea of failure. Yoda taught this lesson to Luke Skywalker, “Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery, hmm… but weakness, folly, failure, also. Yes, failure, most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is. Luke, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters” (Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi).
The lesson we glean from Proverbs 24:16 is that falling down teaches one of the greatest lessons we need to learn about how to live in a fallen world: resilience. Godly resilience is found in faith knowing that we are forgiven, accepted, loved, and valued by the Lord. One fall doesn’t undo us; in fact, his helps us learn to be and do better when we rise with hope. Yes, this requires a shift in perspective, but there is value beyond measure contained within. So, if you are stinging from a failure, don’t quit. Even if you fear your failure is complete, get back up again. Whatever you do, don’t quit. The only complete failure is getting knocked down is staying there. After all, if you are still breathing and God can raise the dead, He is not done with you.
