“When did you arrive?”
“I flew in yesterday.”
No, you didn’t exactly fly in yesterday. You traveled on an airplane that arrived yesterday.
If a bird could talk, it might well say, and exactly say, “I flew in yesterday.”
If an elevator cab could talk, it might well say, “I carried five people up six floors.” But it didn’t actually. The elevator cab itself was lifted up six floors along with the five people in it.
A pen in a museum might boast that “I signed the Declaration of Independence.” No, dear pen, you were but the tool in the hand of the person signing.
A nail might claim credit for holding up the picture on the wall. But, actually it was driven into place with someone with a hammer. It has a function, but it needs to be empowered to function by the one hammering—and, of course, sustained by the wall, too.
What right does the projector have to boast that “I entertained. I showed the movie”?
Can the stove claim credit for cooking the dinner? Should the piano pride itself on the music you played on it?
Is the family doctor the reason for the health of the family? Is the pastor the reason for the saint in his congregation? Should a president claim credit for the well-being of the country?
One could go on and on with similar examples. The point is that having a role to play, large or small, is not the same as being responsible for the success or failure of the entire enterprise or construction.
But, to be perfectly honest, that’s not what usually happens. Whether it’s delusion, vanity, outright deceit, or naïve ignorance, usually the leader claims credit for the victories and successes and attributes the failures to other people or things.
It’s odd, we’re much more likely to say “The devil made me do it!” then “God made me do it”. Which, implicitly, is sort of attributing more power and influence over the course of our lives to the devil!
Hell, no! That’s not the way our lives are supposed to be lived.
Should the screw be claiming credit when it was the screwdriver that drove it in—or the screwdriver be claiming credit when it was worker who was wielding it? (Or the worker be claiming credit who really was empowered by God!)
Shakespeare has Macbeth give a bleak sort of answer to this type of questions, more or less giving credit to none:
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale,
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
David, in Psalm 138, has a better, more true response:
I thank you, Lord, with all my heart;
in the presence of the angels to you I sing….
Though I walk in the midst of dangers,
you guard my life when my enemies rage.
You stretch out your hand;
your right hand saves me.
The Lord is with me to the end.
Lord, your mercy endures forever.
Never forsake the work of your hands!
Tools can’t claim all credit for what a higher power achieves, using them.
Don’t be fool and forget that you’re a tool in the hands of God!
19 March 2023