The Hubris of the Helpless

So here's what happened. Today I had some friends over to work on a project for school. It just so happens that I have a dog, a young golden-doodle, who is extremely hyper. Loving, but hyper.... and psychotic, who jumps all over the place. 

One of these friends, lets call her Emmaline, has an older brother who plays football. He arrived to pick Emmaline up and I rushed to the side door to warn him about our dog.

"She is really hyper, if you go around, she won't bother you, she is on a line!" I said.
"It's OK, I am not afraid of dogs," he said; very macho.

The irony was not lost on me when less than two minutes later the same macho football player was coming toward me at a dead sprint, trying to beat said dog to the door. He slid around the corner, slamming the door shut behind him.

Isn't that so like life! We say or think we can handle things that we just CAN'T, and God has to be there to save us, or straighten us out. 

After my beloved maternal grandmother passed away my grandfather moved in with us. My grandpa is a great man and a brave veteran. But without his wife of nearly 60 years he was and is completely lost. Not too long ago out of sheer boredom (I suspect) he began to remove the scrub brush from between our house and our neighbor's house. He considered said scrub brush to be an eyesore. While these plants were not especially appealing, they did serve one purpose, as a privacy screen.

It soon became clear that my grandfather had bitten off more than he could chew. And our privacy screen had three random holes in it that he managed to clear out, and a few thin areas. Not only was it far uglier than before, it no longer functioned as a privacy screen.

Ultimately we had to remove the rest of the brush, put in a retaining wall, and plant six trees to serve the same purpose. It took four family members and two friends two months to complete the process. 

Yet again, we see that often times we bite off more than we can chew. We say or think we can do things that we can't. Whether we do so out of pride, boredom, a mistaken sense of our own abilities, or a dozen other possible reasons, the result is the same: the people who love us step in and bail us out.

So too does God step in when we need Him.  In Exodus (starting at chapter 15) the Israelites messed up over and over and over again. They literally wandered in the desert because they refused to listen to God's directions. But God gave them one chance after another after another. We too are God's chosen people and he will give us many chances and he will help us and stand by us.

So, watch out for when you think you can do things on your own, for without Christ we are nothing, and with him, we are strong.

I'll leave you with a verse I feel is so very important, and yet so many people overlook it, not because they have never used it but rather because it is over used. "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength," Philippians 4:13. But also remember how little you can do without him.