Deferred from Punishment by Supreme Request

James 3:17

The Voice (VOICE)

 Heavenly wisdom centers on purity, peace, gentleness, deference, mercy, and other good fruits untainted by hypocrisy.

The University of Iowa had well over 30,000 students when I was studying and teaching there many years ago. I was a graduate student in mathematics and earned my way as a teaching assistant. Most of the time this meant that I taught calculus. In those days there was no diagnostic test that could assess whether a potential student had enough mathematics background to be able to succeed in calculus. Then, as now, the student’s performance in high school math classes was not enough for the simple reason that the topics covered in any high school class often varied widely.

Upon first arriving at the university, I was told that because of this inability to predict a student’s readiness for the class, they allowed any student who wished to take the class to register for it. Consequently, there would be more students registered for the class than the classroom could hold. I was to go to the first meeting of the class with a stack of withdrawal cards in hand. I would give a good, no-nonsense first lecture. If a student came to me after the class and said, “I didn’t understand your lecture.” I was to hand the student a drop card and suggest strongly that s/he drop the class and register for a prerequisite class. As a matter of fact, I usually had over 60 students in a room that could only seat around 30, so I handed out many drop cards on the first day.

Diane (I’ve forgotten her real name) came to one of these classes and didn’t drop on the first day. She struggled valiantly, but her background was weak and her native ability may have been lower than average, too. She was performing on the very low C- or D level throughout the semester.

Towards the end of the semester I received a letter from the dean of the university. It informed me that Diane’s father was an abusive man and that he had threatened to kill her if she didn’t pass her math class. Furthermore, he had reason to believe that the father would carry out his threat. The dean requested that if at all possible I should give her nothing lower than a C. I deferred to the dean’s request.

Lord in heaven, thank You for deferring, in Your wisdom and mercy, to Christ’s request that You graciously change our death sentence as sinners in spite of our inadequate performance.