Back in the days when I had seven boys around my dinner table every night, there was a high probability that something would get spilled. And during the season when we were foster parents and had as many as nine boys at the table it was almost a given that there would be a clean up necessary sometime during the meal.
Our youngest foster son was three when he came to live with us. He was a precious little guy who needed lots of love and patience. One night at the dinner table, he not only spilled his milk but spilled his brother’s at the same time. Waving his arms around as he told us something he was excited about, he bumped both cups at the same time and milk went everywhere.
The horrified look on his face broke my heart. It was obvious that he expected major consequences for his actions. But that wasn’t how we operated at our house. We simply cleaned it up, poured another glass of milk for each of the boys, and went on with the meal.
I think this is how God wants us to expect Him to respond when we do something that makes a mess. Instead of His response being, “now look what you’ve done!” I believe He comes along side of us and says,” here, let me help you clean up this mess.”
As a mom, I know that there are times when my patience wears thin and I may respond with less patience than I would like But God never runs out of patience with us. He is always ready to help us with the messes that we or others create in our lives.
How do I know this? Because God showed us that this is how He works. He saw what we’d done and sent Jesus to help us clean up the mess. If He was willing to do that, we can be assured there is no mess we can make that He will not help clean up.
Hebrews 4;16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Isaiah 41:10 Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.