Have you ever pruned plants, built a shelf, put parts on a car, and “Oops”? That wasn’t the branch you wanted to trim, the shelf isn’t level, or there’s a leftover bolt on the ground.
Oops: a word we never want to hear God say. And He doesn’t! He doesn’t make a mistake. He doesn’t miss anything. Everything lines up as it all comes together in His plan and timing.
So shouldn’t things be easier then? If God is perfect and can do anything He wants, shouldn’t everything already be fair, and easier?
Life isn’t about being fair, or easy. If your child disobeys, it hurts both you and them. But if you don’t discipline, they will keep getting hurt and going the wrong direction, and they won’t have the proper respect for and fear of authority.
If your boss tells you to create a report or complete a project a certain way, and you decide to do it your own way anyhow, what do you gain? Your report doesn’t come out right and you wasted time by having to redo it. Or your way ends up being the better way, but your boss is still upset with you because you blatantly disobeyed. So in the future he won’t have any respect for your ideas because of how this was handled.
And to be “fair” – – if we want life to be fair, then there is no need for Jesus to have died for our sins, taking the blame so we can live in His grace and spend eternity with Him. The only fair thing here would be for each of us to die, taking the penalty for our own sins and having no hope of eternity with God because there would be no grace extended to us. Our sacrifice would not be enough because we are not good enough. We are sinners. Mercy and grace can’t exist if life is fair; mercy and grace are given in spite of our failings, not because we earned them.
God’s ways are not a mistake. There is no “Oops” with Him. Ever. These hard times we go through, and the disciplines He places in our path, are exactly what we need to keep us going the right direction, eyes focused on Him. They are what make us bloom, keep us level, and hold us together properly. And thank the Lord for the mercy and grace that goes with it, for we can never earn “fair” or live above the “oops” of life. Only with God … only through His Son.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”