Just as Jesus Himself is the solution to the problems of all mankind, so He expects us to be a solution to someone in trouble. This was what He meant when He said to His disciples – in fact, all believers, ‘As the Father hath sent Me, so send I you’ (John 17:18; 20:21). In other words, Jesus was simply saying, “As the Father had commissioned me to be a solution to someone in trouble, so have I commissioned you a solution”.
You may say you are not properly placed to be of help to someone in dire need. Consider the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37). He met someone who was in great need of a helper. Though he was not properly placed in monetary terms, he knew that what was in his hand at that point in time could be a solution to the problem at hand. He could not afford to look the other way even though other better-placed individuals had looked the other way as they passed the victim by. He knew he was commissioned to be a solution to someone in trouble. To him, providing a solution to someone in such circumstance was an assignment from God and he could not afford to fail God. What did he actually have in his hand? Certainly, he had no more than a keg of palm wine and a few coins – just his personal provision for his journey. It did not matter to him if he had to exhaust his personal provision for his own journey in the course of solving another’s problem. It also did not matter to him whose interest he had to serve, whether a Jew or Gentile, friend or foe. What was uppermost in his heart was the need to carry out his assignment as a commissioned solution provider.
The Samaritan had every reason to be excused from showing compassion on the wounded Jew. First, the Jews and people from Samaria were arch-enemies. Ordinarily, they would not see eye-to-eye. Second, he hadn’t the requisite resources to provide any fundamental solution to the badly wounded and dying Jew. Third, it was very probable that the robbers might come and attack him in the course of trying to help the robbery victim. But there was one compelling force, which encouraged him to defy all the odds against him – the need to help someone else in trouble. It did not also matter to him if the priests and Levites – the most likely people who should be moved to compassion – looked the other way or not. He knew that every man God created is a solution to some problem.
I am a solution to your problems, just as you are to mine. In other words, I am because you are and you are because I am. There are many people on the sickbed in the hospitals around you. Go there, visit them and show them your love and compassion. Who knows, that may be all that is needed for their recovery. Pray with them and pray for them. By doing this, you are not only helping to solve someone else’s problems, you may discover who you are thereby. You might have been sent to a person or a people. For example, Aaron was sent to a person while Moses was sent to a people. Aaron was a solution to Moses’ problem while Moses was a solution to the people of Israel’s problems. We are not equally gifted but no one is created without a gift and each gift is meant to meet a need (Exodus 31:1-10).