Afraid to Fail

In the Garden of Eden, Eve believed in sanctity of her own rationale. She depended solely upon her ability to understand and make choices on her own. At that moment, she seperated herself from the Father and, as Adam followed her example, sin entered the world. Each of them, both Adam and Eve, failed to live up to the expectations and responsibilities that they were allowed to have. And. likewise, all of mankind was doomed to failure.

Yet, praise God that the story doesn't end there.

Too many times, we walk thru this life afraid to fail. And, after having failed a number of times, we soon tend to either give up too easily, or worse yet, refuse to allow ourselves to be moved from our self-imposed zone of comfort. Yet, ever since the very first failure in the Garden, we are to expect failure. Moreover, it is only the acknowledgement of that failure in our lives which leads us to redemption in the grace of Jesus.

Grace, in all its fullness, takes place only after the failings that come from our inability of relying upon our own strengths, independence, and self-sufficiency. In deed, without failure, one may never come to know His atoning grace and the plan for our redemption.

Do not be afraid to fail. Rather, be afraid of a stubborn reliance upon one's own judgement; of your own strength and wisdom to decipher right from wrong, left or right, up or down, yes or no.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all thine ways and He will guide your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

Delivering the Groceries

I heard this story some time in the past. I’ve shared this story many times in the past. It always brings a smile. Yet, I don’t know where, or to whom to give the credit.

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A faithful and devout Christian woman, who lived in a tightly packed, trailer park community, lost her job at the local plant due to a work force reduction during a hot, sticky summer. Not able to afford air conditioning, she would open all the doors and windows of her domicile. Her next door neighbor also worked at the plant. Unlike her, however, he did not lose his job.

Each morning, the faithful woman would pray. In her fervor and pleading, she’d wake up her neighbor. When he’d return home from work in the late afternoons, he noticed that she was still praying. Even when he was about to go to bed, he could clearly hear the faithful woman speaking to what he considered to be no one in particular.

One night, after a particularly humid day, the gentleman was annoyed. He listened to the woman’s prayers.

“Lord, Father God, hear my prayer. I praise you. I thank you. I ask for your forgiveness for my lack of faith. I’m hungry, dear Lord. I need food. I’m out of work. I have no money. I know you see me. I know that you hear me. Feed me what you will, Lord. Thank you for the blessing of knowing you; for hearing your words, and being clothed in my right mind to discern truth from folly. Amen.”

“Would you shut up all that noise,” he yelled from his trailer to hers. “I’m trying to go to bed. Unlike you, I got a job. Maybe if you’d stop spending all that time on your knees and got up to look for some work, you’d have something to eat. Why waste your time praying to a god that doesn’t exist.”

“My God does exist,” she replied. “And, I pray that one day you will see His work.”

He scoffed and went to bed. The faithful woman arose from her knees and did the same.

And, so it went. Each morning, afternoon, and evening, the faithful woman prayed to the Lord, thanking Him, praising Him, seeking forgiveness, and asking that her needs be met, according to His will.

On Friday morning, she woke up her neighbor again with her prayers. He was livid.

“Woman,” he yelled to her. Do you have any decency? I have to work, but I don’t need to be up this early. It’s bad enough that I have to wait for you to finish that babble in the evening, but must you wake me up with it.”

She ignored him and finished her prayers.

As the gentleman rode to work, he devised a scheme to prove to his neighbor that God didn’t exist. He figured, since she’s always asking for food, he would go grocery shopping and get the food for her. Then maybe she’d finally shut up, he reasoned.

Later, just before sundown, the woman was praying, once again. As she finished, she heard the footsteps at her front door, followed by a knock. Seeing three bags, full of groceries, she fell to her knees and thanked God profusely. “Lord, Jesus, thank you for this blessing. You are truly my God.”

The gentleman was waiting close by, around the corner, and out of her sight. When he heard her giving thanks, he jumped out from hiding, “I told you,” he yelled.

“You told me what,” she asked.

“There is no God. The only god that brought these groceries to you is me. I bought these; with my money. And, I’m giving them to you. I’m so sick and tired of hearing you. Now, you can know what I know; the only thing you can depend on in this life is yourself. Now get up, take those groceries, and shut up once and for all.”

“Sir, without a shadow of a doubt, I know my God provided these groceries for me,” she responded, as she collected the bags. “I know Jesus. He loves me. And, he loves you. He provided these groceries for me. He just used a fool to deliver them.”