Recently I was carrying a box of stuff on my shoulder to put away, and from the more unstable top of the box, a glass container full of stirring straws fell from the box. In the slow-motion state of mind that takes you back to a distant dream or a favorite movie, I watched as straws fell from above my head to the floor on my left side. As the straws passed across my field of vision like hundreds of small twigs, I caught a glimpse of the glass container tumbling to the floor. End over end the container slowly fell like a field goal kick on its way to a goal post. Then the glass container hit the floor with a rifle crack, shattering into thousands of pieces all over the carpeted floor.
As one can imagine, I was frustrated by the circumstance I now found myself in. After all the hard work, after trying to be careful and watching what I was doing, I still ended up with two messes in front of me. One was a disheveled pile of straws strewn about the floor, and the other was shards of broken glass stretching across the carpet. As I gathered myself and took a deep breath, I kneeled down to start picking up the straws. As I did, I had a moment where I felt God tell me to pause so he could teach me something.
Looking at the two different messes, I sensed God telling me that we find ourselves in different messes of life. Some are like the piled up heap of straws. They are a mess and, upon first glance can be overwhelming to even start picking up. But, since they are a pile of individual straws, if I take a deep breath and begin picking up one straw at a time I will be able to easily clean up the mess. It will take some time, it will be frustrating and tiring, but given enough time the mess will be cleaned up and things will be put right again.
Other messes are more like the broken glass container. The container is shattered and there are sharp pieces all over the floor. It is going to take a good deal of time to pick up all the pieces, you will get stuck and may bleed a little, and in the end, the container is beyond repair. All that can be hoped for is to clean things up as well as possible, throw the remains of the container away, and hope no hidden shards in the carpet hurt someone down the road. Both messes occurred when I was trying my hardest to take care of things, both messes were able to be cleaned up, but both have different long-term outcomes.
We see the same thing in scripture. When David failed his marriage and committed adultery and murder, he created a huge mess. (II Sam 11-12) After being confronted by Nathan the Prophet, David goes into a time of fasting and praying for his sick child. When the child dies, David gets up, cleans himself, and has a meal. When asked about his behavior by his servants, David replied that he had hope God would spare his child from the sickness, but since the child had died and God’s sovereignty had revealed itself, David chose to move on with his life and trust his Lord. David’s life continued to be used by God and he was given the high honor of being a man after God’s own heart.
On the other side of things, Adam held the fate of the whole world in his hands. (Genesis 2) At the moment he decided to eat of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Adam changed the entire existence of mankind and the world we live in. When God came into the garden and discovered that Adam had eaten the fruit, he removed Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, gave them coverings for their naked bodies, and restored them to a remnant of their relationship with God. But, despite the cleanup job that God did, the fact still remained. Innocence was lost, sin had entered the world, and things would not be put back the way they needed to be again. The results of Adam’s actions were permanent.
I don’t know what situation you find yourself in today, or what situations you will find yourself in down the road, but most likely they will fall into one of these two categories. May God give you the grace and wisdom to know which situation you find yourself in. If it is the former, may he give you the patience, strength, and perseverance to pick up the pieces and put things the way they once were. May he heal your heart from the pain and discomfort the mess has caused, and when you stand back up after the mess is cleaned, may he restore you and bless you as you continue on with your life. If you find yourself in the latter may God wrap his arms around you and remind you he still loves you. Though the situation may have changed things forever, it can’t remove you from his love and grace. He will do his best to help you put life back together as well as it can be, and he will be there with you along the way. It hurts and things will always be different, but life does move forward and Jesus will help you have your best life possible. May his love and grace wrap itself around you.
Straws and glass can make a big mess, and cleaning them up can be frustrating and difficult. Though the results may be very different, God can help you clean both messes up if you will trust him, be obedient to him, and remain faithful with where you are.