Monday, September 8, 2008

Pineapple-Upside-Down Cake or a Mess ?!

The other day I was saved from a mess by going back to the instructions. I almost ruined what turned out to be a pretty good pineapple-upside-down cake by trying to do it my way.

God said, “Who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn’t it I, God?” (Exodus 4:11, The Message)

“… mute, deaf, blind … “ We call those things – disabilities. And under disability there is a LONG list! Somewhere on that long list every single living human can find items to check.

Why is there disability in our world? The quick and dirty answer is “sin.” If things weren’t broken… If the world wasn’t broken… If you and I weren’t broken … there would be no disability in our world.

But the truth is that everything is broken and flawed by sin. The truth is that ALL of us are broken and damaged by sin. Sin is ugly to the bone, that’s the truth! In the sense of being broken, we are all broken in various ways.

This isn’t a “blame game” - We are all broken so BLAME GOD! It’s rather a matter of responsibility, which God clearly takes in Exodus 4:11.

It’s also a matter of comfort: the loving, sovereign God Who could have chosen to fix everything long ago has chosen to let us be born with defects or to come to defects so that in our weakness we learn to lean on God. We learn to trust God best when we need Him! God knows that so He gives us ways and challenges that leave us few options. The best option of all is to seek His strength in our weakness no matter what our particular strain of weakness looks like!

Most of all, it’s a matter of trust! Can we trust God to be loving and good as well as powerful and wise?

Back to the pineapple-upside-down cake. I mixed the batter and prepared the melted butter in the dish. Then I almost dumped the batter in without first adding the brown sugar, pineapple and cherries. It would have been an upside down mess if I had done it my way. I was “saved” just barely by checking the recipe, and the cake turned out okay.

God wants us to follow His instructions for life. He wants us to love and trust Him. He promises to be with us. He demonstrated His love the day He sent His Son Jesus to the cross. He is the King! We can trust Him now and forever no matter what!

We can either do life our way or His! His way is always best, and my way is always a mess!

No comments: