What does the Bible say about failure?

To fail from time to time is only human, but to be a "failure" is when
we are defeated by failure, refusing to rise and try again. Christians
sometimes believe they should be immune to failure by virtue of their
relationship with God, but the truth is that God often allows us to
fail for a variety of reasons. Job 14:1 says, "Man born of woman is of
few days and full of trouble." That doesn't say "unbelievers" or "the
ungodly." It says man born of woman. What does that mean? Everyone.
Life is full of trouble, even for those who belong to God through
faith in Christ. We are to expect it. This means God does not promise
life to be without problems, sorrow, and, yes, failure, just because
we believe in Him.

Luke 9:1-5 describes how Jesus sent His disciples out to preach the
gospel and perform miracles. He also taught them how to handle
failure. "If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet
when you leave their town, as a testimony against them." Jesus wanted
the soon-to-be apostles to model themselves after Him. He gave them
power and authority over devils, power to heal the sick, etc. Most of
all, Jesus wanted them to have boldness. He knew that not everyone was
going to receive the truth about Him, but in saying "Shake the dust
from your feet," He meant for them to move on and plow forward.
Witnessing and being rejected can make us feel like failures, but if
we understand we are to expect it (John 15:18), what appears to be
failure actually becomes a badge of honor.

When we feel failure come against us, our first reaction may be to run
or give up. When it comes to sin, we are all capable of avoiding it.
Even in complete love, faith and devotion to God, we can fall, but God
is not shocked by this which is why He sent His Son to die for our
sins. We get back up again, and we start over. But we should know that
we cannot do it alone. We must keep our eyes on our Savior, following
and obeying Him and laying aside the sin that inevitably leads to
spiritual failure, as Hebrews 12:1 says, "Let us throw off everything
that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with
perseverance the race marked out for us." God has marked out a course
for each of us, and sometimes that course includes failure. But when
we cling to the Savior, even our failures can be turned into successes
by the One who controls all things and who strengthens us in our
weakness (Philippians 4:11-13). Our ultimate victory in Jesus is
assured, but complete victory will only come when we are out of this
world of temptation and safe in the arms of the Lord in heaven.

Does the Bible say to follow your heart?

There are many calls to "follow your heart" in movies, novels,
slogans, blogs, and memes. Related pieces of advice are "trust
yourself" and "follow your instincts." A corollary dictum is "your
heart will never lead you astray." The problem is that none of these
quips are biblically supportable.

Rather than trust our hearts, we are to commit our hearts to God:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your
paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5–6). This passage gives an explicit
command not to trust ourselves. And it gives the promise of guidance
to those who choose to follow the Lord.

For anything to provide proper direction it must be based on objective
truth. That is to say that whatever is consulted for guidance must
reach a conclusion based on objective truth and not subjective,
emotional inference. The Bible teaches that man is to follow God. God
declares, "Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence
is in him" (Jeremiah 17:7). God has perfect knowledge of everything (1
John 3:20), a trait often called omniscience. God's knowledge is not
limited in any way. God is aware of all events that have ever
transpired, are currently occurring, and will ever happen (Isaiah
46:9–10). God's knowledge goes beyond mere events and extends to
thoughts and intentions (John 2:25; Acts 1:24). It is not all this
knowledge, however, that makes God a perfectly reliable source of
guidance. God is also aware of every possibility, every eventuality,
every imaginable outcome of any series of events (Matthew 11:21). That
ability, combined with God's goodness, enables God to give the best
possible direction for people to follow.

God says this about the unregenerate heart: "The heart is deceitful
above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah
17:9). This passage makes clear two reasons why no one should bind
himself to following his heart when making decisions. First, there is
nothing more deceitful in all of creation than the heart of man
because of his inherited sin nature. If we follow our heart, we follow
an untrustworthy guide.

We are, in fact, blinded to our own heart's deceitful nature. As the
prophet asks, "Who can understand it?" When we rely on ourselves for
wisdom, we end up unable to tell right from wrong.

Second, Jeremiah 17:9 teaches that the heart is desperately sick.
There is no way to fix the heart. Rather, man needs a new heart. That
is why, when a person comes to faith in Christ, he is made a new
creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus does not fix the heart; instead,
He replaces it with a new one.

But that does not mean that we can rely on our hearts after we come to
faith in Christ. Even as believers, we are encouraged to follow God's
will over our own desires. The Bible teaches that "the flesh desires
what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the
flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do
whatever you want" (Galatians 5:17).

We have an omniscient, benevolent Lord who promises to give us wisdom
(James 1:5); we have His inspired, inerrant Word written down for us
(2 Timothy 3:16). Why would we turn our backs on God and His eternal
promises in order to pursue the whimsical impulses of the heart?

What can we learn from the man of God and the lying prophet?

In 1 Kings 13 we read of a person called only a "man of God" who was
sent by the Lord from Judah to prophesy against King Jeroboam of
Israel. He declared, "O altar, altar, thus says the LORD: 'Behold, a
son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall
sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on
you, and human bones shall be burned on you'" (verse 2). The unnamed
prophet also gave a sign: "Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and
the ashes that are on it shall be poured out" (verse 3).

Jeroboam sought to seize the man, "but the hand he stretched out
toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back" (1
Kings 13:4). At the same moment, "the altar was split apart and its
ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the
word of the Lord" (verse 5). The king asked for the man of God to pray
for him and his hand. When he healed the king's hand, the king
attempted to reward him, but the man of God replied, "So was it
commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'You shall neither eat
bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came'" (verse 9).

This man of God was careful to keep God's three-fold command. He ate
nothing and drank nothing, and he began to walk a different way home.
However, on his way home, another, older prophet came to him, saying,
"I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word
of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you into your house that he
may eat bread and drink water'" (verse 18). But this second prophet
was lying. No angel had visited him, and God had not spoken to him
regarding the matter. But the man of God believed the old prophet and
went home with him. At supper the old prophet suddenly received a true
word from God: "This is what the Lord says: 'You have defied the word
of the Lord and have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you.
You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told
you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the
tomb of your ancestors" (1 Kings 13:21–22). When the man of God left,
"a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in
the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside
the body" (verse 24).

The prophet who had lied buried the man of God in his own grave and
instructed his own sons to, upon his death, bury him beside the man of
God. In doing these things, the old prophet showed his sincere belief
that the prophet who died had been a true man of God—his prophecies
against the idolaters of Israel would come true (1 Kings 13:31–32).

This account concludes with a note on the king's stubborn refusal to
obey: "After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but
made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any
who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places. And this
thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to
destroy it from the face of the earth" (1 Kings 13:33–34).

So we have a prophet who lied and a prophet who died. In this account
we see that both the godly and the ungodly face consequences for
disobedience to the Lord. The evil king faced judgment because of his
idolatry. And the man of God likewise faced judgment for his
disobedience. No one is above the rules.

We also see that sometimes temptations come from surprising quarters.
The king tempted the man of God to break God's command, but the man of
God refused. His guard was up, and there was no way he would disobey
God for the sake of dining with an evil king. However, when a fellow
prophet tempted the man of God to sin, he gave in. His guard was let
down, and he did disobey God for the sake of dining with a (seemingly)
genuine prophet.

When God speaks, the matter is settled. There is never an excuse for
disobeying God's Word. Even a fellow believer—even an angel descending
from heaven—cannot nullify God's Word (cf. Galatians 1:8–9).