Genesis 3:15

I felt it appropriate to start this blog from the beginning, and in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Following an undisclosed amount of time in the Garden, Adam and Eve took of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and they did eat. It is of one of the eternal consequences which followed this event that I have chosen to write.

Apparent failure and rejection have made themselves my companions during the past weeks. I am currently seeking employment and have yet to secure a full time position. Earlier this month, I applied for an opening in Ferguson’s operations trainee program. Ferguson is the largest distributor of plumbing supplies in the United States. They were kind enough to address the status of my application last Friday, “Thank you very much for applying online with [Ferguson's] North American Division! We have filled all of our available full time trainee positions.” Such has been the response to every application I have submitted.

While working to eliminate my own shortcomings, I could not help but reflect upon what the world would perhaps label as the greatest failure of all time, the death of Jesus Christ. For the ministry of He who Isaiah prophesied would “open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison” (Isa. 42:7) to end a crucified and seemingly powerless prisoner Himself would have been labeled a tragic failure. However, Isaiah also taught, “The Lord’s thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways His ways” (Isa. 55:8). In fact, when looked upon with proper perspective, the ironic death of the Savior becomes a clinching victory.

At the very moment that an atoning sacrifice became necessary, moments after Adam and Eve became both mortal and capable of sin, the Father pronounced the following curse and prophecy upon the head of the serpent, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15). The promise means that although Satan would someday bruise the heel of the seed of Eve (referring specifically to Christ) by beguiling men to crucify their king, Christ’s very death upon the cross would empower Him to crush Satan’s head by releasing mankind of the negative effects of the fall with the same heel Satan had worked so hard to bruise.

The fulfillment of this prophecy was accompanied by three days of failure. Three days that I believe Christ’s disciples will never forget. The ultimate victory however, was claimed after those three days when Mary Magdelene's search for her Savior resulted in the angel of the Lord telling her, “He is not here: for he is risen” (Matt. 28:6). The same act that Satan had used to enslave mankind for the eternities was used to forever free them from the bands of death and sin. Christ had not lost; he had won, and he sent an angel to proclaim His victory with eight simple words, “He is not here: for he is risen.”

I have found great comfort in knowing that my thoughts are not His thoughts and that His ways are not my ways. When looked upon with proper perspective, failures can truly be understood as victories. It gives me great peace to know that my future is in the hands of He who 'failed' on the cross because I know what he did to the grave. Bruised and unsure, I look forward with faith to the day my efforts will be found worthy of His help as He crushes the serpent’s head for me.