It is seductive to think that there is some heavenly Being that will not let us fail. This is often described as God's 'unconditional' love and is thought to be an obvious universal. Many people are enamored of the thought that such a “loving” God will not really punish or abandon his dearly beloved children, no matter what religious texts say about hell, fire, or brimstone.

In my continued reading, I have found that God's love doesn't work in this way. He respects our choices and, if we choose to dishonor him, fail to obey his commandments, and set him aside in our lives, God allows us to act and later face the consequences of those actions.

14 And it came to pass at the end of four years that the Lord came again unto the brother of Jared, and stood in a cloud and talked with him. And for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared, and chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord.

15 And the brother of Jared repented of the evil which he had done, and did call upon the name of the Lord for his brethren who were with him. And the Lord said unto him: I will forgive thee and thy brethren of their sins; but thou shalt not sin any more, for ye shall remember that my Spirit will not always strive with man ; wherefore, if ye will sin until ye are fully ripe ye shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. And these are my thoughts upon the land which I shall give you for your inheritance; for it shall be a land choice above all other lands.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/ether/2?lang=eng&id=p14-p15#p14

God will not “lovingly” shove us onto his better course or choose to ignore our aberrant behaviors. If we sin against God's commandments and do not repent (or change toward obedience), we will be “cut off from the presence of the Lord” as stated above.

Of course, when God lets us choose, it is a real choice, not one where the punishment is so heinous that you would never choose to do other than his will. The ultimate fate of the unrepentant is still that “cut off from the presence of the Lord” and many people don't mind that as that is a way that one can approach mortality, basically keeping a distance from God. The “punishment” is basically the continuation of the kind of Godless living that they have already been living. As his version of love, God set up his plan to work this way, giving each of his children the eternal future toward which they have labored, even if it doesn't include God and his “presence”.

On the concept of "failing", I suppose a word like "grading" is likely more accurate. The only failure will come from our own perception of what might have been compared with how our actions have determined what is. God has described our mortal lives as a "test", where the sort of person we have become is weighed and an appropriate reward is determined.

Part of what the Lord is saying is that he will not forever tweak you to try harder and strive higher through his “Spirit”. At some point, God leaves people to the life they have chosen and doesn't work with them any more. Such a reaction is certainly not a definition of the 'unconditional love' upon which so many seem to depend.