One of the greatest tragedies of history took place in our century. The tragedy has been examined from many vantages and a seemingly endless number of conclusions, seeking to demonstrate how the outcome might have been radically different, have been drawn. Virtually all agree that there was a dangerous level of false assurance that caused this monumental tragedy and even after 80 years the word "Titanic" speaks of massive disaster.

One of the central players in this disaster was the captain of the Titanic, Edward Smith. "Captain Edward J. Smith was among the most tragic figures aboard the Titanic. When Thomas Andrews ( a member of the crew) told him that the ship was going to sink, he knew the numbers: he knew how many people were aboard, he knew how many lifeboats he had, and he knew, at that moment, that people were going to die."1 However, moments before that news Captain Smith was unshakably confident in his ship's ability to withstand any danger. He was fully convinced that the Titanic was in no danger and could not be sunken even by a collision with an iceberg. He was unshakably confident in its water-tight compartments.

Captain Smith's confidence came from a recent personal experience. You see, Captain Smith was captain of a sister ship of the Titanic called the Olympic. The Olympic was virtually identical to the Titanic and was also designed with the same watertight compartments as the Titanic. "Some months earlier, on September 20, 1911, the naval cruiser Hawke struck the Titanic's nearly identical sister ship Olympic. Smith was then in command of the Olympic. The Hawke had been equipped with a ram specifically designed to sink ships with watertight compartments. . . . The Hawke was badly damaged, a total loss. Captain Smith commented that 'the Olympic's frame stood the shock well. . . . The watertight doors, which automatically closed, held the compartments sealed.' The great tragedy of the Olympic collision is that it might have made Captain Smith even more confident in the Titanic's supposed invincibility, which might explain why, seven months later, he was so willing to steam ahead into an ice field he knew was there."1

Captain Edward Smith is not the only person in history who was deluded by past experiences, convinced that all was secure and safe because all went well the last time. Many a person has thought, "It went well last time, surely all will be well on this occasion." Businesses, private and public programs, marriages, parenting, and all kinds of endeavors have all faced the deceptive message of past success.

We may have sincerely engaged in honest, good, and successful endeavors. However, too often we do not realize that past success is no guarantee that all will go well again. Past success can fool the best of men. The truth is, but for God's grace and goodness, there is no success, the first time or the last. By God's grace we may have been successful in our new business, in raising our first child, in establishing and executing an original program, in making a basic financial decision. Yet, we need to realize that even though we avoided many possible disasters and potentially damaging collisions, the next experience may not be so successful, but by the continued grace of God.

Likewise, we may have engaged in wrong-doing and experienced no disaster. We are doing wrong again and counting on the same "success". No disaster last time surely means no disaster this time -- doesn't it? God, by His grace, may have kept you floating through an experience that should have and would have sunk many a ship. That grace was not shown by God to embolden you in your wrong-doing, but to speak to your heart about His grace and kindness, to turn you from wrong to right, to teach you about His goodness and love. Do not be fooled by that past "success".

The Bible says, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man soweth that will he also reap." That natural law has been built into God's world. God's grace and goodness, which has prevented a past collision, is not designed to have us think that we can continue doing wrong and not reap a disaster. When God graciously overrules His natural laws, we ought to praise God for His goodness in that we have survived what should have caused us to sink and has indeed caused others to sink. We are being fooled it we confidently steam forward in our wrong-doing and risk a ship wreck.

God may be speaking to you about the need to realize that it is God's grace that resulted in your past success of that sincere and good endeavor and that it will be God's goodness that will result in yet future success. Yet, God is surely speaking to others who have been falsely encouraged in their wrong-doing by the fact that they have survived a serious disaster which should have sunk their marriage, their family, a child, their employment, their future. God wants you to talk to you about the mistake that Captain Edward Smith made when he foolishly ignored the warning of icebergs, thinking all was well.

The Titanic "disappeared into the sea at 2:20 A.M. on Monday, April 15, 1912. No one--at least no one in charge--had anticipated anything worse than penetration by another ship at the junction of two watertight compartments. She would have easily floated with two compartments full, so they labeled her unsinkable, and the unsinkable ship went down the first time it sailed. "2

1. Her Name, Titanic - pg. 244

2. Her Name, Titanic - pgs. 137-138