The Benefits of Backsliding
––God's Way Up Is Down!
By David Berg - August, 1972
Question: After backsliding, do you ever get back to the Lord as
close as you were before?
Answer: Closer!
Question: But after Eve ate the "apple" she knew the evil and couldn't be simpleagain.
Answer: But she was a lot wiserand humbler! She believeda lot more, had more faith, and now knew the Lord was right!
Question: But Esau lost his place!
Answer: Same as last answer above: Defeat teaches you a lot. Like the Prodigal, he lost his birthright, but he gained many other valuable lessons, and the Lord promised to make many nationsof Ishmael and Esau.
You lose the innocence you had before the "apple", but lessons of wisdom and knowledge that are actually much more valuable are gained.
Question: But when you have so much knowledge and get away from the Lord, many times it's hard to get back.
Answer: It was a hard road for Davidbut look what it taught him: Compassion, humility and gentleness.
Backsliding is a hard school! Look at Jacob in the school of Laban: Jacob was really crooked until he had to work under someone even more crooked than he was! But it finally broke him, and look what he gained. Before his downfall, he was only "Jacob the Deceiver," but afterwards, he was a "Prince of God and Man"!—Gen.35:10-11.
When people lose their innocence they don't feel they are as close to the Lord as before. That's because they don't really realise what God's righteousness is. Their idea of righteousness is so different from God's! When you feel so righteous and good, it's because you are self-righteous and not closer to God, but closer to yourself! It's a perverted idea from the churches—a kind of "sinless self-perfection."
David was far more righteous after he became a great sinner than he was when he was so haughty and self-righteous! One reason why I really need to confess my sins and tell everybody about them is because it really helps to keep me humble! It helps you to be honest with yourself and with others and with the Lord.
Confessing that you're a sinner, really exposing yourself and your sins, reminds you you're no picture of purity and innocence! You no longer feel quite as angelic, but you're a whole lot more saintly according to God's idea of saintliness!
The World equates goodness with godliness, by which they mean self-righteous perfection. Sinfulness they equate with devilishness. But the Lord said the sinner was closer to God than the so-called sinless self-righteous perfectionist! (See Luk.18:9-14)––The drunks, harlots and drug addicts are closer to God, for God's way up is down!
God gets His greatest victories out of seeming defeat. Jesus said, "To whom much hath been forgiven, the same loveth much."––Luk.7:47. David sinned a lot, but God called him a man after His Own heart!––He was after God's heart!––Acts 13:22.
You can never be too bad for Jesus, only too good! "And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted"––Mat.23:12. The Prodigal was closer to the Father when he was wallowing in the mire than he was when he was first at home, because in the mire for the first time he began to appreciate home!
That self-righteousness is a works trip! It's a deceit of the Devil that you were closer to God when you were pure and ignorant! It's a lie that Adam and Eve were closer to God when they were living in the Garden!—They weren't driven from the presence of the Lord—they were driven into His presence to know Him in a way they'd never known Him before! They were driven out of the garden into a position where they had to get closer to the Lord to survive!
The greatest men in the Bible were guys that made terrible mistakes and realised they were sinners, that they needed God. Some people have said that Joseph was the only guy in the Bible about whom there was no recorded mistake. But I can remember thinking: "What a stupid idiot he was to go and tell his brothers when having dreams like that!" He was a typical little spoiled brat, and if he hadn't bragged about his dreams, showing off to his brothers about how he was so superior, he wouldn't have gotten thrown into the pit and sold into slavery in the first place!
But that's what the Lord had to use to take him down––the Lord had to make a slave and prisoner and criminal of him to humble him, before he was able to be exalted and become the saviour of his people. He was a real spoiled child!
So the Devil's idea of righteousness is totally the opposite of God's idea. The Devil's idea of righteousness is the self-righteous, holier-than-thou hypocrite—the supposedly sinless perfectionist!
Whereas God's idea of righteousness is the pitiful, hopeless, lost, humble, loving, sinful sinner who knows he needs God!––Those He came to save! "He came not to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners!"––Mat.9:13.
So God's idea of goodness is godliness––a sinner who knows he needs God and depends on Him for Salvation. So sometimes backsliding can actually be good for you to wake you up to what a hopeless helpless sinner you are without God's help! Then there's hope you'll turn to God for help.—Whereas the self-righteous think they don't need His help, and are lost!
But while there is life there is hope. Isaiah says: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him: and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."—Isa.55:7.
God gets some of His greatest victories out of seeming defeats! God's way up is down!––Down to the defeat of self and self-righteousness!—Up to the victory of the cross and death to self for others!
Do you feel defeated and at wits' end corner?—Turn to God! Are you at the end of your rope?––Let go and Let God!––Just can't cope? Take God's dope! Your extremity is God's opportunity! You've tried everything else?––Why not try God? He loves you!