A WORD FOR TODAY, August 24, 2021
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, August 24, 2021
“When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn’t allow them. Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him, and saying, ‘Come over into Macedonia and help us.’ When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Good News to them. Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis; and from there to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony. We were staying some days in this city.” Acts 6:6-12, WEB
Phillips Brooks was a nineteenth century American clergyman who was known for an incredible spiritual ministry. He spoke the Gospel with great power and impacted the world with his preaching. He was a writer, and he wrote the hymn “Little Town of Bethlehem.” It is said that Phillips cherished a letter he received from a tailor near Boston. It said, “Dear Mr. Brooks: I am a tailor in a little shop near your Church. Whenever I have the opportunity I always go to hear you preach. Each time I hear you preach I seem to forget all about you, for you make me think of God.” Would that all our preaching be the same.
Phillips Brooks did not intend to be a preacher. He wanted to be a teacher. He went to school, graduated, and began his career. It didn’t last long. He failed. About this experience and his students he wrote, “They are the most disagreeable set of creatures without exception that I have ever met with... I really am ashamed of it but I am tired, cross and almost dead, so good night.” While still in his position, he said, “I don’t know what will become of me and I don’t care much.” He had other pitiable things to say about his future. He was so humiliated, his father said, “Phillips will not see anyone now, but after he is over the feeling of mortification, he will come and see you.”
We may not feel such shame, but haven’t we all had moments of failure that have made us question our own ability to accomplish anything of substance? I can identify with Phillips’s experience. I went to college to be an elementary school teacher and I too failed. How do you find a room full of first graders disagreeable? I don’t know, but I did. I didn’t belong there. I couldn’t get them to listen. I couldn’t teach them what they needed to learn. I tried again in a preschool classroom, and though I had only a handful of children, I didn’t do very well for them. I felt a certain amount of humiliation, but for the sake of those children I left the classroom.
Henry Fosdick likened Phillips’ experience to Paul’s Bithynia. Paul wanted to go there to preach the Gospel, but the Spirit would not allow his group to pass. God had a different plan. There was a different place for him to go, different people who needed his ministry. The same was true for Phillips Brooks. God had plans for him and God gifted him for an incredible ministry. Though I doubt I’ll ever be remembered like Phillips, his story helps me to find peace with my own failure that set me on a path that is glorifying God in a much different way.
What was your Bithynia? What did you try to do that failed but led you on a much better path? Have you embraced your calling in a new and better way? We will regret our failures, but we should look to God for guidance about where He would have us go. We might just be the one called to preach God’s Word in a way that makes our listeners forget us as they think about God.
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