Pastor Paul
Perhaps God is more interested in having us learn how to use, intelligently and creatively, the freedom and knowledge we are given than God is in protecting us from our errors. (When a parent or teacher is unwilling to let children risk failure she/he prevents them from ever doing anything important on their own and in fact, stifles learning.)
Freedom and power and knowledge are glorious things, but dangerous too. They can (and are often) misused. They entail risks. Are they worth the risks involved? God seems to think so! Certainly, people who have been deprived of them think so. Anyway, everything worth doing involves the willingness to take risks and the real possibility of failure. Even babies, as they take their first steps, have to be brave enough to accept the possibility that they may fall down and hurt themselves, or they would never learn to walk or to standing up and try again.
Please give me the courage I need, God. And stamina. And perseverance. And faith.
Freedom and power and knowledge are glorious things, but dangerous too. They can (and are often) misused. They entail risks. Are they worth the risks involved? God seems to think so! Certainly, people who have been deprived of them think so. Anyway, everything worth doing involves the willingness to take risks and the real possibility of failure. Even babies, as they take their first steps, have to be brave enough to accept the possibility that they may fall down and hurt themselves, or they would never learn to walk or to standing up and try again.
Please give me the courage I need, God. And stamina. And perseverance. And faith.