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From the archive
WHEN YOU TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH… AND FAIL
by Lieut-Colonel Gilbert Ellis
HELEN Keller was the first deaf and blind person to earn a university degree. She overcame enormous obstacles and said: ‘Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.’
No one in their right mind would actively seek out experiences of trials and sufferings, but often in life the only way forward is to confront such situations.
Moses is an example of what can happen when someone moves out of their comfort zone. Brought up as a prince, his life of privilege contrasted enormously with the conditions of the Hebrew people, who suffered under terrible bondage. He decided to help them, but it all went regrettably wrong.
Having saved a Hebrew slave from a beating by killing and then burying the slave driver, he felt confident the Hebrews would accept him as their leader and that he would secure their freedom. It was a shock, therefore, to be rejected by the very people he wanted to help. The next day, when he stepped in to calm down two Hebrew slaves who were fighting each other, they turned on him and one said: ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?’ (Exodus 2:14). There and then Moses decided it would be best to move on, like his patriarchal ancestor, Abraham, who also set out on a journey.
However, there were significant differences between his journey and Abraham’s. While neither knew at the outset where they were going, their motives were completely different. Abraham moved out in hope. Moses was fleeing from his past. Abraham was motivated by divine discontent and he was looking forward with hope. Moses was motivated by the lack of support from the Hebrew slaves.
Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote: ‘O, wad some Power the giftie gie us to see oursels as ithers see us!’ In this new situation Pharaoh would have seen Moses as a traitor; having grown up in the royal household, he had rejected all it stood for. The Hebrews would have seen him as a pompous upstart who thought he could just come along and take over their lives. His true family must have been disappointed with his behaviour, seeing it as a failure.
However, the gift Moses needed was not to see himself as others saw him, but rather to see himself as God saw him. From Moses’ point of view he was fleeing from disappointment and failure – a failed revolutionary, leaving behind his family, his friends and the people he wanted to help. From God’s viewpoint Moses was just moving from one classroom to another in the school of life.
Sometimes God can seem remote, and everything seems in a mess, when in fact, in the background, God is working out his plan for us. Moses had a lot to learn. In the same way we can set out to do the right thing, only to find that the very people we want to help reject us.
When life becomes intolerable despite
our best intentions, we need to remember that God has not deserted us. His viewpoint is very different from ours, and he can bring victory out of our apparent defeat.
The supreme example of this is to be found in Christ. The Prince of Peace came into this world to save us, and yet he was rejected. He came to his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet, on the cross, in the moment of his apparent defeat and failure, God was working to bring about an eternal victory for the whole world.
Eventually things worked out for Moses too, and he went on to become a spiritual giant and leader of God’s people. It is good to remember that when life becomes a mess, despite our best intentions, God is still there making all things work together for good. In his time, God will make things plain and turn our defeats into glorious victories.
