Pastor’s Column 3/30/2025

PASTOR’S COLUMN

16 “The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.”     Proverbs 24:16, NLT                                                                   

Fourth Sunday in Lent - “Resilience!”

How easy it is for any of us to surrender our will over to a moment in life we perceive as failure. If a person fails to accomplish a specific goal or win a coveted prize as they had hoped, panic buttons cause them to retreat to the side lines of life. Many a good person has given up prematurely, rather than persist, however long the task  pursued may have taken. One of Shakespeare’s characters, King Philip, speaking to his rival about facing a trial, says: “Tis dangerous… but I tell you, my lord fool, out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safely.” The point is,nothing worth achieving is easy, but it is worth the effort in the end. The writer of Proverbs in the Old Testament knew this well. He says, “The godly may fall seven times but they will get up again.” The NLT prefers the term “trip.” The Hebrew word used often is, Hiphil, which means “something causes a person to lean downward.” The proverb describes the contrast; between being shaken off balance and resuming our balance in “getting up again. This is a beautiful illustration of resilience. The godly person uses what would have been complete failure as leverage to succeed. In contrast, one disaster can defeat the ungodly. When we become grounded in our faith and conviction, failure is not a finality. The late John F. Kennedy, Jr., son of the 35th U.S. President and his namesake, graduated from New York University Law School. Some critics and pundits thought he would not graduate. When he took the New York Law Bar Exam he failed the first time. Undaunted, John took the exam the second time but failed. His critics felt they were justified in speculating he would never become a lawyer. Amid criticism, John vowed to the public he “would take that test until he was 95 years old or until he passed.” John passed the New York Law Bar Exam on his third attempt.God gives all who trust Him the resilience to persevere!