"Chutzpah"

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

During his graduate study at the University of California at Berkeley, George B. Dantzig [1914–2005] arrived late for a statistics class. He saw two problems on the blackboard, and, without benefit of instruction, thought they were a homework assignment. So, he copied the problems and took them home to begin working on them. They were extremely difficult, but nonetheless, he solved them and turned in the assignment a few days later. A few weeks after that, his professor came to him with a manuscript. As it turned out, the two problems on the board were the professor’s example of unsolvable problems! The manuscript of Dantzig’s work was edited and prepared for publication. Because he solved the unsolvable, he later was known as the father of linear programming.

It struck me that if he had gotten to class on time to hear the professor say the problems were unsolvable, he might not have tried to solve them, just like the other students in the class that day. 

It also strikes me that some Christ followers have a tendency to give up too easily. When someone says, “That’s unsolvable,” we take for granted that it can’t be solved, and often go on our way without so much as giving it a second thought. A word comes to mind here that I heard my Father use - “chutzpah.” It’s a Hebrew word that means, gall or nerve. There are some things in life that require it, chutzpah, that is.

Has the Lord directed you to do something to which others have been, shall I say, less than encouraging? Then I say, show a little chutzpah! Go for it with boldness. Don’t let the nay-sayer convince you that your problem, or your dream, or your vision is an impossible task. You can do it, you know, because the Lord is with you!   

The wicked flee when no man pursues them: but the righteous are bold as a lion. Proverbs 28:1