Sometimes We Love What Doesn’t Happen - by Dr. Bill Bagents

This post is written by my outstanding friend and former coworker, Dr. Bill Bagents. Bill serves as the most capable Vice President of Academics at Heritage Christian University in Florence, Alabama.

I think I’m supposed to have an eye exam every year or so, but I don’t do it. The latest exam revealed the need for new glasses, but it had one major bonus. Because I was scheduled to see the retina specialist in two weeks, my regular doctor did not dilate my pupils. Great choice, as it takes my eyes way too long to un-dilate.

I recently dropped a can of soda in the pantry. My previous dropped can exploded, and it took twenty minutes to clean up the mess. This time, there was no explosion and no mess.

I was hurrying to make an appointment on time. I appreciate early, and I hate late. The person meeting me also hates late and tends to arrive notably early. On this occasion, we both got delayed, but still arrived just at the chosen hour. Neither of us had to wait even a minute.

Most of us have been in “almost wrecks.” Looking back, we see how close we came, and we’re moved to grateful prayer. We even know people who have had “almost wrecks” with chainsaws.

Sometimes we love the fact that what so easily could have happened did not. Biblical examples abound.

• Noah could have been just as evil as the world around him, but “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” because he consistently did just as God commanded him (Genesis 6:8).

• Joseph could have surrendered to disappointment and fallen all the way to despair. His brothers sold him as a slave, his master’s wife lied about him, and his fellow prisoner whom he helped forgot him. But Joseph stayed with God, kept his faith, and acted with consistent integrity (Genesis 37ff). Joseph let God use him to save countless lives.

• Moses could have chosen “to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” within Pharaoh’s house, but he “chose to suffer affliction with the people of God” (Hebrews 11:25).

• Caleb and Joshua could have chosen to be as faithless and fearful as their ten fellow spies, but they stepped up and gave God great glory (Numbers 13-14).

• Daniel’s three friends could have “given themselves a pass”—just this once (Daniel 3). After all, the furnace was a life-and-death situation, and they had no promise of God’s physical protection. They stand as great examples of faith overcoming fear.

• Daniel could have closed his shutters or changed his time of prayer when he knew of the plot against his life, but he prayed in the upper room with the window open “as was his custom since early days” (Daniel 6:10). He refused to be ruled by fear or controlled by his enemies.

• To cite the most powerful example, Jesus could have asked the Father to spare His life, and God would have sent “more than twelve legions of angels” (Matthew 26:53). If so, we’d be without hope, without a Redeemer, and without a purpose in life.