Tag: failure
Day 5–Faith moves mountains!
Scripture reading for February 13: Matthew 17:18-21 “And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say unto you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matthew records the story of a failure in the rescue of a young boy with epilepsy. This young boy’s father brought the boy to the disciples to deal with the disease which caused the boy to be thrown into the fire and into the water, endangering his life and peaceful existence as well as his family. We don’t know for sure where Jesus was, but the disciples failed to help the boy. When Jesus arrived and the father told them of the failure, Jesus rebuked the disciples as part of a ‘faithless and twisted generation’ that He was weary of bearing with. He had given them instructions before. They had gone out and applied what Jesus taught and modeled earlier. (Luke 10:17-20) Why couldn’t they use their faith to bring healing here?
This story contains lessons for us as first responders. There are times when we are called to help when we may try but seem to fail. We apply what we know, but don’t truly know what we should have learned. Like the disciples, we try but are failures and wonder why we failed. Sometimes an older and wiser responder takes us aside and explains where we went wrong. Sometimes, another team member with more experience and training provides the help needed and we can learn again the correct procedures.
When I face incidents where I am in over my head in training or ability I don’t despair and give up. My confidence is in my Lord and His promise of mountains moving even if my faith or personal ability is small. I speak to the Lord about the problem and invite Him to give me strength and ability or send help. Mountains move and nothing is impossible with Jesus.
Prayer: Father God, thank You for being with me in my weakness and even my failure. Thank You for correction and encouragement to get up and get going again, trusting in You. Amen.