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Continued from home page
When Is “Failure” A Success?
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55.10-11
Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
Jesus, in Matthew 13.3b-7
Are Isaiah and Jesus disagreeing here? It sounds as if Isaiah says that, with God, there is no futility. Everything God decides to do happens just the way God intends it to happen. And it sounds as if Jesus is explaining how something God intends may not work out the way God has in mind. There may be interference, and God’s intention may be frustrated.
Perhaps there’s another possibility. It may be that there’s more than one way for sowing seeds to have a good result.
- Suppose the seed falls among thorns, and absorbs water from the soil, and absorbs nutrients along with the water, and begins to grow, and then loses out to the thorns in the competition for light. The moisture and the nutrients then become available to those other plants. Thistles, say. And the thistles go on to produce improbably beautiful flowers for people to enjoy, even as they’re being encouraged by the thorns to leave some parts of the earth un-trampled. I’m not so sure God is sorry about that result.
- Or, suppose the seed falls on stony soil, and the plant grows for a while, but dies when it turns out that there’s not enough soil to sustain it. When it dies, there’ll be a smidgen more organic matter in the soil. That’s how we get topsoil, isn’t it? There’s more there than just sand and clay. I’m pretty sure God isn’t sorry when thin, rocky soil becomes rich, and loamy, and fertile.
- And the seed that falls on hard-packed soil, and helps keep birds from starving to death? Do you think God is sorry about that?
Some of our efforts may succeed in ways we don’t intend, in ways we don’t even see.
Some of our “failures” strengthen us. “Suffering produces character”, writes Paul. He doesn’t specify physical suffering. Suffering frustration surely qualifies.
Some of our “failures”, and the ways we deal with them, may encourage others in their growth in faith. “These people deal with failure pretty calmly”, people observing us might say. “It doesn’t throw them. Maybe they know something about rejoicing in God’s goodness regardless of how successful they look, regardless of how successful they feel. Maybe it’s something we could learn.”
Some of our “failures” equip us to be useful to others in overt, active ways. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Paul again) “the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.”
So, if I’m reading these texts in acceptable ways, Jesus says “Not every effort has the kind of results we hope for.” Isaiah says, “When God is active, nothing of value gets wasted, and no effort is useless.” I think there’s not necessarily any disagreement between them.
What do you think?
Pr. Howard
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