Bible Text: 2 Corinthians 4:16 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | Therefore, we do not lose heart. 2 Corinthians 4:16
“A tree is best measured when it is down,” says Chuck Swindoll. Michael Powell would agree with that statement. In his desk, he has three sets of CAT scans: one which shows a shattered pelvis; a second showing it held together with pins; and a third, fully mended.
In 1987, Powell, who then was 24 years of age, was involved in a terrible automobile accident in Germany which left his spine broken and his pelvis shattered. His dad was General Colin Powell, and the son was following in his father’s footsteps but earning his promotions entirely on his own.
But with the accident a military career was ended. Lesser men would have resigned themselves to a life of excuses, but not Michael Powell. He went to law school and specialized in communications. Eventually appointed to the US Federal Communication Commission, Powell is a man who has a bright future instead of an excuse. He says, “Opportunity knocks for everybody, but everybody doesn’t have their bags packed.”
Those three images, however, which he keeps in his desk are a reminder that life is uncertain. He says, “You’re guaranteed nothing and that it can end as randomly and as spontaneously as it comes into being.” He says he just doesn’t “have time for the negative stuff, for negative people or worrying about some ill.”
A tree is best measured when it is down, not when its towering boughs are piercing the sky.
Disasters or difficulties often come as challenges or opportunities. Some, failing to recognize them, do spend the rest of their lives moaning and complaining; and others count their losses, regroup and determine to get on with their lives. They are the real winners. I’m thinking of the great Chicago fire that devastated the city. Marshall Fields saw his struggling dry goods store consumed by the fire, and later standing at the site of the charred remains and ashes, he vowed, “On this site I will rebuild the greatest department store the world has ever seen.” In time, he did just that.
A certain street preacher stood on a corner and with an open Bible began to preach to the crowd of farmers. One distraught farmer, not much caring for the message, took a sack of potatoes and began to throw them at the street preacher who quietly began to group the potatoes with his feet, then eventually picked them up, took them home and made potato soup with them.
OK, what’s the defining factor that causes a Michael Powell to regroup and set new goals when his world crumbled, or caused the street preacher to make potato soup out of the missiles that were hurled at him? In one word, it is attitude.
You have no say in what happens to you in life—the automobile accident, the economy that puts you out of work, or the virus that sidelines you in the hospital, or the stark reality that you are going to have to raise your three children without a husband. But your attitude determines your response to the situation.
Attitude is a choice, a conscious decision that you make. When you understand that God is sovereign and that He is not indifferent nor ignorant of what has happened to you, this helps you understand that He can be your strength and stay, your refuge, the one to whom you can turn, and your help as you redirect your steps in the future.
Although a tree is best measured when it is on the ground, it doesn’t have to stay there and eventually rot or decay. When life knocks you down, get up and ask, “God, where do we go from here?” In time, you’ll get direction and you’ll begin to find strength to make your feet move again, perhaps in a new direction, but never one where you will not find His help or strength. Learn from the examples of David, of Joseph, and of Paul in the New Testament. The real test of your character is what it takes to stop you.
Resource reading: 2 Corinthians 4