Thought for Today
Genesis 4:9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"
Proverbs 15:22 Without counsel, plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed.
Luke 5:6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break.
Acts 27:41 But striking a reef, they ran the ship aground; the bow stuck and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the force of the waves.
How do you react when things break? How do you react when things go wrong? What is your reaction when things do not go according to your plans? Do you get mad? Do you lash out at all around you? Maybe you sulk and/or despair.
We live in an incredibly complex world. We also live in very highly mobile world. Our modern cites are a marvel of complex, intricate systems which allow massive numbers of folks to live together in relative comfort and safety. Our homes contain a wealth of gadgets, most of which we find useful but few of which we completely understand or are able to repair.
The technological complexity of our societies has become such that engineers can joke that if a device is not broken, it doesn’t have enough features. As far as the plans we all make for almost every aspect of our lives, they are sometimes even more complex and intricate than our countless devices. I have to admit that the proverbial wisdom in that verse above from Proverbs seems to be partly true and partly false. Certainly, plans do go wrong. Far too often. However, only rarely do I lack counsel or advice. It often seems like the plethora of counsel is the proximate cause of the failure.
When Cain set out to make his offering to God, did he plan for things to go the way they ultimately did? Surely not. Cain’s initial reaction to God’s not accepting his sacrifice is understandable, ”Genesis 4:5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen?” God asked not because God did not know; God asked in an attempt to get Cain to think things through and come to understand his own failure. Cain’s reaction, Cain’s slaying of his brother, was a total failure on Cain’s part to understand where he went wrong.
“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / gang aft agley…”
Taken from To A Mouse, this Burns quote reminds us that no matter how much we plan, things can – and will – go wrong” (www.scotsman.com)
As a descendant of other Scotsmen, I would only add that Burns, like Murphey, was an optimist. The more complex and intricate things become, the more often they ‘gang agley.
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As a Christian, a descendant of the Scots who brought Calvinism to Scotland, the question for me is not whether things will and do go wrong, not whether things will break and/or malfunction. The question is how will I react?
Greta will confirm that quite often my first reaction is along the lines of Cain’s first reaction. I sometimes become angry; my countenance falls; I become frustrated. I am human. And that’s okay. I cannot imagine that there is anyone who never feels angry or frustrated or overwhelmed in our modern, complex, technological world.
Greta and I are both currently dealing with frustration over the latest update to our smartphone operating system. As with our computers and other devices, every time the designers upgrade the systems to make them simpler, we find them much harder to navigate.
I believe our Creator God understands our anger and frustration. I believe God understood Cain’s anger and frustration. When we feel emotions, God understands. And when we do feel that way, God tries to help us understand, just as he did with Cain. “Genesis 4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it." The anger and frustration are not the sin; the sin is in not listening to God and obeying God.
As I cope with my smartphone and with all the other frustrations in life, I need to remember John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8, Micah 6:8, Luke 10:27 and all those other verses I so often cite.
Stay safe, find calm and serenity in scripture, trust God,
Pastor Ray