Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Proverbs 17:17 (05/25/23)
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TITLE: A Friend In Need | Previous Challenge Entry
By Linda Lawrence
05/31/23 -
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In a panic, I slipped out of the office and paced in circles in the parking lot, simply wanting to hide. Lord, why didn’t you show me this mistake when I made it? Why now? I don’t know how to fix it . . . Help! I couldn’t hide forever but I wasn’t ready to confess to my boss and lose his respect. Jack and his wife were good friends—had been for years. But Jack was also a perfectionist and wanted the Music Department to be known for excellence—to the glory of God.
Hoping for a miracle, the next day I went to the head of accounting. He listened to my explanation with patience. But, he said Jack was the only one who could request recovery of money lost from the budget by my error. I quietly groaned, knowing I was making a fool of myself, but asked him anyway. “If God was going to bring this to light, why didn’t He do it when I made the error? Then I could have corrected it in a timely way?”
“Maybe He did and you just didn’t listen?” the accountant replied softly, his sympathetic countenance giving me pause. “God often gives us a nudge to recheck something but we casually go on our way, ignoring his prompting. I’m not saying you did this, but I’ve had to learn the hard way that we need to pay attention when the Holy Spirit is trying to help us.”
I knew I was being given an important life lesson: Listen to the Holy Spirit, the Helper.
I kept putting off facing Jack. I had to face Jack sooner or later, but I took the long way back to the Music Department from the Administration building. At the end of the day, my thoughts were still racing and I was still hiding my fall.
After another sleepless night, I knew time was up. Time to face the music, as they say. Jack was completely unaware of there being a problem and when I knocked on his door, asking if we could talk, he invited me in with a smile.
My heart was pounding as I blurted out the mistake I’d made. I confessed my understanding of how this negatively impacted the department and created a problem for him. Then I held my breath.
“We all make mistakes,” he graciously responded, “and if this is the worst we do, we’re in pretty good shape.”
I resumed breathing, aware that I’d been given a gift of mercy. Like Adam and Eve, I’d foolishly run, hidden from the one person who could actually help me in my adversity—my immediate authority and friend. If only I’d gone to Jack as soon as I discovered my mistake I could have saved myself days of agony. But how quick I am to want to cover my mistakes.
I don’t regret that painful fall because of the lessons I learned. Ever since that day I try to listen carefully if I think the Holy Spirit may be nudging me. However, some mistakes are more than carelessness. They are disobedience or stubbornness—sin. The Holy Spirit has made it very clear to me that if I uncover my ‘hidden sin’ the Lord Jesus will be my Friend and cover my ‘confessed sin’ for me with His own righteousness. Jack acted as a compassionate brother, but Jesus is my ultimate friend in adversity.
Non-fiction
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity. Proverbs 17:17
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Excellently written. Thank you.