Problems and Solutions - By Cec Murphy

Below is an excerpt from Cec Murphy's September Newsletter. He is someone I admire tremendously and I hope you too will be encouraged by his wisdom.

"Once we get through the next two months, things will be easy for us," I said to my wife four months before graduating with my master's degree. I owed money to the university, but by careful management we would have paid everything before graduation. The financial strain would be gone.

And it was. For a few weeks. Then our older daughter, Wanda, needed braces. Shirley's Dodge called for unexpected repairs, and we were cautiously budgeting our dollars again.

I wonder how many of us have made similar statements: "Once we get past this predicament" or "Just as soon as I start my new job." I'm too embarrassed to admit how often I said such words. I believed them, and in my naïveté I was sure life would go smoothly after that. After all, haven't we all heard, "For every problem there is a solution"?

Don't we like to believe that once we surmount this issue, things will flow smoothly? A few months ago, our pastor, Owen Stepp, twisted that by saying, "For every solution, there is a problem." That is, every resolution opens the door for a new quandary.

We do well to remember both sayings. That way we focus on the immediate difficulty while preparing ourselves for the problem that follows. Is it possible that God created life to work that way? First, we face a hardship, cry out for help, work through it, and relax. Then we have to encounter the problems that arose from the solution.

For example, when I left the pastorate to write full time, I found my solution for overcrowded days and nights was not quite enough sleep. I confronted new issues in my adjustment to lead the solitary life. I solved one problem only to have to stare at a new dilemma that required a resolution.

Isn't that how life functions? Accepting the two statements pushes us to work for the present obstacle and know we'll have other issues ahead. As a serious Christian, I believe I need those problems-to-solutions to keep me aware of my need for divine help and a greater dependency on God's faithfulness.

 

For every problem there is a solution;

 

For every solution there is a problem.

Both of them keep us growing.