Surprise!

… but God made it right. A twist on a silly saying that is more true than the original.

How many times have we bowed before the Lord in prayer, lamenting our failures (or what we perceived as failures)? He might have those times written down in His book, but there have been so many in my own life that I have lost count (not enough fingers!).

Paul gives Christ’s followers a principle to follow that is hard for our carnal man to follow—we are not to compare themselves with others (Galatians 6:4-5). It's a sad truth that focusing on the “perfectness” of others—or what we perceive to be perfection—serves no good purpose; it only serves to add salt to the wounds of failure.

Repenting and turning from our mistakes is a good thing, something that makes our faith stronger. “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7). Untried faith is faith that can be shaken. For our faith to be strong, we actually need times of trial, tribulation, and (sigh) failure. It is only by going through these valleys that we learn to flex our spiritual muscles and grow stronger. But somehow head knowledge is a far cry from internalized heart knowledge. Once we have repented and turned from our sin, our heart must let the "feelings" that accompany those sins go.

For myself, the greatest grief of failure—other than breaking God’s heart—is how others, however inadvertently, are affected. In a word, the grief of collateral damage. Yes, God forgives me. But the hearts I have hurt with my errors! How many times have I wished I could turn back the sands of time for a do-over that would have a very different ending for those wounded, however unintentionally, by my actions. Ah … but— wonderful, glorious newsflash! I may not be able to go back and fix the hurts I inflicted, but God cannot be mocked (Galatians 6:7). What God has purposed will come to pass—not only in my own life, but in the life of everyone I thought I had in some way diminished ( Isaiah 14:24).

I had never thought much on Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan made lame when dropped by his nurse. Sure, my heart always felt a little tug of sympathy every time I read about him, the young boy crippled by an accident incurred by a nurse in the very act of trying to do a good thing for him, attempting to help him flee for his life. But her noble intentions were not enough, fallible human that she was; her good intentions turned very, very tragic. But a recent sermon, shared by a woman who in this last year suffered great loss, turned the story of Mephibosheth into a moment of epiphany for me. This is some of what she shared.

As a prince, Mephibosheth had lived a life of wealth and privilege, until the fateful day when the sins of his grandfather, King Saul, brought his world crashing down around him.

A new king ruled. In those ancient times, the given course of action for a new king was to decimate any progeny from the former king, the better to ensure the stability of his new rule. Mephibosheth, however, was saved, hidden by a man with a kindly heart in a place called Lodebar.

A Hebrew lexicon defines “debar” as meaning, “to speak, declare, promise, warn, threaten, sing.” It infers communication, the banding about that comes with community, not to mention promise and singing. The warning part might not sound so good, but the other definitions sound great. The problem is that the name was preceded by “lo.” “Lo” in Hebrew means "no." So Mephibosheth, he of royal blood who once had a promising future, he who once had the world at his feet, was brought down to live in a place that meant “nothing good.” No communication, no community, no promise, no singing. How the mighty had fallen. The thing is—God is the One Who writes the end of the story. As tragic as the barren wasteland Mephibosheth found himself in was, it was not the denouement of his life's narrative.

Through the sins of others, Mephibosheth was brought low. Through an inadvertent accident, he was made lame. He lived in a place with no future, no hope. But the misdeeds of others and the accidental hurts from others do not have to define us. God had a plan and a purpose for Mephibosheth and what He has purposed shall come to pass. It might not be tomorrow or the day after, but God’s redemption will come.

There came a day when the new king sought Mephibosheth out to raise him up, restore his father’s lands to him, and have him eat at the king’s table every day of his life. In an instant his nothing life was turned into something glorious.

Circumstances and people might inflict wounds on our psyche, but those are mere incidental obstacles, bumps in the road to God’s purpose for our life. In other words, if I accidentally took on the role of Mephibosheth’s nurse and dropped someone, damaged their heart or mind or soul, I don’t have to wring my hands and self flagellate for the rest of my life. While I do have to repent of them, my errors will not keep God’s blessings and purpose from being fulfilled in someone’s life. They might hinder them, but God will fulfill His purpose in their life, in spite of my glaring errors.

Phew! And here I had wallowed in abject misery, thinking my errors had thwarted God’s blessing and touch on the lives of those I had accidentally hurt. Yes, I might have hurt them, but God did not change His purpose or withdraw His blessing on them simply because of something I did! Thank you, Jesus!

I was wrong so many times, but God turned it to right! Not only did He strengthen me as I repented and sought Him, but He made sure that those on the receiving end of my booboos had a way to keep on trucking. I was so wrong ... but with God it all turned out right!

So what if we've been less than perfect—our lack of perfection will not hamper the fulfillment of God's sovereign will. Repenting of our mistakes and turning from them is a very good thing, but it's short-sighted and wrong to continue to view those sins as insurmountable obstacles to God's blessings in the lives of others—God will make the end of each story right!

“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 59:20).

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

"My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure" (Isaiah 46:10).