| Halfway
through an intensive graduate program I lost my zeal. My
pastoral heartstrings tugged at me; I wanted to get out of
academia and back into people-centered ministry. I came close
to quitting.
On Evie's advice I decided to seek counsel from the dean of
students. When I walked into his office the next morning, he
received me warmly and spoke with me at length, even though I
hadn't made an appointment. After I explained my dilemma, he
offered some simple advice: Since I had come this far in the
program, it was a minimal sacrifice to continue. Besides, the
long-range benefits of finishing the degree well outweighed
the momentary relief of getting out.
Fortunately his counsel hit a receptive chord, and his
affirming spirit was reassuring. By the end of our meeting my
motivation had begun to return. I'm now eternally grateful to
this man for his advice and encouragement. Staying with the
program gave me the background to write my first book, and the
degree has opened numerous doors of ministry. In this case God
used a man--one individual--to keep me from a regrettable
course of action. Were it not for his counsel, I likely would
have bailed out.
The experience speaks to me of God's protective hand in my
life. As I reflect on his protection, I'm reminded not only of
individuals who have been like angels of light to me but also
of fortuitous circumstances. One evening when we were living
in St. Louis, I was studying in my basement office. I took a
short break to go to the kitchen for a soda and while upstairs
heard the noise of glass shattering in the basement. I rushed
downstairs to find that the fluorescent bulb over my desk had
come loose, falling onto my desk and exploding into hundreds
of fragments. I had barely missed being in its range of fire.
I'm frankly humbled to realize how often the “barely missed” scenario has described
my life. Perhaps you feel the same about your experience as
well.
Rescue Missions
I'm not building up to the thought that the Christian never
experiences problems or that faith will deliver us from every
predicament. God allows challenge and pain to come into our
lives as needed to strengthen us and increase our dependency
on him. Yet a friend and I who were talking about it agreed
that our most common experience of God's grace has been of his
providing us ways out of tight spots. Often these have been
predicaments of our own making--dilemmas into which our
limited insight has plunged us. Call this a rescue operation
if you will. I'm perfectly comfortable with the idea. In fact,
if we don't have a profound and ongoing sense of needing
to be rescued, we will miss many of the benefits of the grace
of God.
But this sense of need must be accompanied by the
conviction that God will come to our rescue. We need this
confidence not only for the sake of humility (as vital as that
is) but for the sake of courage. One of the reasons we
hesitate to take important steps of faith--toward building
relationships or seeking better opportunities for our
gifts--is our fear of problems that might confront us on the
way.
Divine Compensation
Throughout his earthly ministry Jesus demonstrated his
willingness to care for those who followed him, to the point
of bailing them out of the most hideous predicaments. His
first miracle was precisely such a rescue mission. He and his
disciples were attending a wedding feast in Cana (Jn 2:1-11).
Marriage celebrations in New Testament times amounted to
festivals that lasted many days. The families of the bride and
groom were often bound by a legal contract, and the groom's
family could be sued if the reception's provisions were
inadequate. Partway through this particular feast, the wine
gave out. Jesus proceeded to transform the water filling six
twenty-gallon jugs into wine of superb quality.
By doing so Jesus not only taught a symbolic truth about
the superiority of the new covenant over the old. He also
demonstrated something profoundly practical about God's
willingness to come to our aid in human affairs. By protecting
the groom's family from embarrassment and legal liability, he
showed how God can shield us from unforeseen consequences as
we take steps of faith.
Jesus showed his willingness to rescue us in perhaps an
even more comforting way through his last miracle--restoring
the ear of the high priest's servant after Peter slashed it
off (Jn 18:10-11; Lk 22:51). Peter undoubtedly intended to do
something far more destructive with his sword--to kill the
servant or the high priest himself. The healing of the
servant's ear not only symbolizes God's rectifying our
mistakes but reminds us that he often protects us from the
more extreme effects of our impulsive and destructive
tendencies.
A Confident Perspective
We should meditate often on the fact of God's rescue
missions in our lives, for this is one of the vital ways in
which he shows his providential care for us. Appreciating his
willingness to rescue us shouldn't lead to sloppiness in our
walk with Christ (“If God will bail me out, I can do
whatever I want”). If it does, then we haven't taken the
grace of God seriously to begin with! To the contrary, it
should strengthen our boldness to take steps of faith.
I realize it can sometimes be hard to know precisely what
God wants us to do. We may struggle long and hard to discern
his will for a particular decision. Yet even as we come to
understand it, we're often panicked at the thought of moving
forward. Our mind is filled with countless “what
ifs”--imagined future disasters that paralyze us from taking
action. At this time especially we need to be fortified by
confidence in God's willingness to rescue us if it proves
necessary.
From the human angle, of course, we want to figure out
solutions to all potential problems before they arise. Yet
concern with troubleshooting every possible contingency in
advance will paralyze us from ever taking a major step of
faith. As the Cana wedding feast reminds us, the time comes
when we simply need to move ahead, trusting that God is
abundantly able to come to our rescue where our planning has
been inadequate. And as he protected Peter in the incident
with the servant's ear, he can safeguard us from the effects
of our more extreme human tendencies.
God cannot steer a parked car. But as we move forward, we
discover his infinite ability to navigate our lives. And he is
just as able to do the maintenance necessary to keep us on
course.
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