“I can’t clean up.”
I explain to my daughter that we must clean up before we move on to the next activity.
“It’s too hard,” she whines, looking at the array of evidence we’ve left scattered in our wake. This could be anything: colorful spills from watercolor painting, a mighty block tower crashed, pieces littering the floor, or a village of little people waiting to be returned to their proper home. Really, the stuff that makes up the mess isn’t important; if the mess is big enough, my daughter’s response is the same: “It’s too hard.”
We make messes of our lives at times. Sometimes, the mess gets so big that we are at a loss for how to clean it up. We find ourselves overwhelmed by the muck. We’re not alone in this. Moses killed a man. David committed adultery and had his lover’s husband killed. Peter denied Christ. If God wanted shiny, perfect people, he sure did a poor job of choosing his biblical leaders.
God knows we are going to make a mess. He loves us anyway. He does ask us to repent, to clean up, but he never asks that we do it alone. In the scripture today we hear his proclamation: “Remember not the events of the past…See, I am doing something new!” We might not see a way out. But the fact that we don’t see it shouldn’t stop us. If you are stuck in sin, if it has a hold on you and you don’t see a way out, tell that to God. Tell him it’s too hard. Invite him to do something new.
“Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not. See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way.
– Isaiah 43:19
In what ways am I stuck in sin?
Can I imagine myself sharing my struggle with Jesus?
What freedom my I enjoy if I were to simply let go?
This post was originally written for the Christus Ministries Lenten Blog and published on April 7, 2019.