When I was a minister, I often worried about what would happen if no one showed up. Low attendance is bogeyman for a young ministry, and I would be lying if I said that there weren’t times that I came up with the idea or a bible study or service project only to have no one show up when the day finally came. Eventually, I got to the point where I prepared for such failures - having alternate lesson plans for a small group, making sure the first parent sticks around until you know more will show up, etc.
And then a Wednesday night came where I expected 20 and 80 showed up. I was overjoyed… until I realized that I didn’t have enough food… or chairs… I had gotten so good at preparing for disappointment, that I had forgotten to prepare for success!
Acts 6 shows us how the apostles deal with a similar situation. Caught off guard by the incredible spread of the gospel, they hadn’t taken the time to plan for how to be a church of 3000… no, 5000… 10,000? Suddenly, as accusations fly and widows go hungry, they have to scramble to fix the “problem” of their unexpected success.
This passage is a reminder to all of us that, as we do the Lord’s work, we should plan for His blessings in addition to our failures.