Does God Cause Our Failures?

I've often wondered whether or not God creates situations for us in which he hopes (or maybe knows) that we'll fail. For example, will He lead us to go to college knowing that we'll flunk out? Will He ask us to apply for a job knowing we'll never get it? Will He orchestrate a relationship knowing we'll call it quits?

The answer, it seems, depends on our definition of failure.

Sitting in the pit that his own brothers had dug for him, Joseph probably felt like a failure.
Being ridiculed for building a giant boat on dry land, Noah probably felt like a failure.
Watching their fearless leader be nailed to a cross, the disciples probably felt like failures.

Meaning...

If Joseph's goal was family unity, he was a failure.
If Noah's goal was popularity, he was a failure.
If the disciple's goal was peace, they were a failure.

But, as you and I know, none of these were "failures" at all. They were merely circumstances considered by humans to be devastating, but orchestrated by God to be divine.

Joseph's "failure" put him in position to rescue an entire country from famine.
Noah's "failure" put him in position to save his family from flood.
The disciple's "failure" put them in position to witness the single most remarkable event in human history.

That pit you're in...that ridicule you're facing...that war you're fighting...it might not be a failure at all. It might just be that you have the wrong goal.