As an elementary kid one summer I remember working side by side my grandfather, dad, brother and uncle. It was at a time when we were all pitching in with helping hands to get ready a piece of land and house for my uncle and his family. My brother and I were very distracted throughout the day with a large family of cotton tail rabbits that were living on the piece of land. There had to be a dozen of them running around, and every time we moved something or made room for something there would be a rabbit or two. They didn’t seem fearful of us and that made it even worse. Let me tell you we were two country boys who had been raised to hunt all animals and this was torture. Several times during the day we would pick up rocks or sticks to chunk at the rabbits but were unable to bring home the bacon. I remember us both making comments about wishing we had our guns, or bows, or knifes, or slingshots, or anything that could be used for ammunition. Watching us all throughout the day was our grandfather (Pepaw). Never too far away from us but not once did he say a word to us at all of our failed attempts. Finally as the day was losing sunlight and we had gathered around the truck our Pepaw asked us both if we were able to bag some supper. Both of us feeling a little down on ourselves shook our heads no. Just then a daring rabbit hopped out about twenty feet from us and with lightning speed Pepaw pulled his trusty old pliers from his back pocket stepped and threw. This throw would have made Nolan Ryan weak in the knees. Pepaw walked over picked up the rabbit and brought it over to us. He didn’t gloat about it or show boat to us. He simply said, “You know when I was a kid if you missed your shot you didn’t get to eat”, and then we all laughed. My brother and I tried several times to get Pepaw to take aim again at another rabbit, but to no avail. He just didn’t believe in taking more than you needed or he thought there is no way I could make that same throw again (Scott and I believe that latter).
Really even though this may be a little rough or gory for some this was one of my fondest memories. I have told this story to several people due to the rarity of the great shot. Call it a hunting story for the books!
Have you ever taken aimed at something? There are a few people in the bible I can think of who took aim. Some hit the target dead on and other’s not so much. David would be my first pick and probably most obvious to most as he took aim with just a stone and defeated goliath. What a day that must have been. I know how much I looked up to my Pepaw for his shot with the trusties pliers, but those watching David had a story to tell. Another person who took aim was Moses. Maybe not so much with a slingshot or bow but he had a target of the promise land and he aimed himself along with several Israelites on the path. I don’t think any of us who know this story would say Moses made a bull’s eye here. It to me is one of the saddest stories about Moses. All the hard work he put forth lost due to what God says is trust in him.
Numbers 20:9-12
9 So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
We read of the mistake Moses makes here and can’t believe he would lose trust in his creator.
Have you ever lost trust in God? Your immediate response to that question is “No way.” But really it’s not that far out there. Losing trust in God happens when we feel like we don’t need God no matter the task at hand. For some of us we tend to lean on God when things are hard in our lives but on a day to day we let God take a break and handle our lives by ourselves. What are we truly saying? Maybe we too don’t trust God enough to give him full control of everything in our lives.
As you finish reading this try and make this week be about taking aim on the right target. My real shot in this life is to aim to finish what God has left here for me to do, and that is to take his word live it and share it with as many people as possible. I pray to God that I don’t miss my target.
Acts 20:24
24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
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