Mistakes (Marilyn Britton)

Originally from: David & Marilyn Britton (WATRWINE@nbnet.nb.ca)
Originally dated: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 11:20:53 -0400

Step out. Obey without fear of mistakes. God sees the heart (1 Samuel 16:7) and enjoys us. Our obedience pleases Him, delights Him to the point our mistakes at times causes Him to laugh.

This is a picture of a small child about 2 years of age sitting at a child sized set of table and chairs. The "Father" brings a glass of juice and sets it before the child and then goes on about his routine. Suddenly He hears a commotion, turns around and here comes the child towards him with both hands holding the glass of juice. Oh, oh, the child doesn't hold the glass level and some juice spills out down the front of the child. In the surprise of feeling the juice down the front the child bends forward to try and comprehend what is happening the glass tips at a greater angle spilling more juice on the floor. With the juice on the floor and the child already leaning and looking forward, unsteady on its feet, the child slips and sits in the juice. Now both the front of the clothes and the seat of the pants are wet plus the child is crying partly from frustration of fear caused by uncertainty of what went wrong and the bit of uncomfort of wet juice and hard floor.

The "Father" is walking towards the child to help comfort the child and when the child looks up at the Father's face tears in the eyes, grasping a glass with only a few drops of juice remaining in the glass and passes it up to the Father because that was the child's intent when it first got the glass of juice. The desire was to share the juice with the Father.

Picture the Father's joy and laughter at the commotion and struggles of the child trying to get to Him with the glass of juice. He would enjoy the contortions, awkwardness and the child's surprises. But more than Him seeing all this with humour, He would enjoy the heart that loved Him and persisted to come amidst all the spilling. It would not matter to Him the glass did not remain a full glass of juice but that the child wanted to share the juice and did what it was capable of doing in order to share even a drop of juice with Him.

How different the experience for both child and Father when the inner heart is one of obedience rather than rebellion and self-centredness or immobilization and silence because of fear. Our mistakes cause God to laugh at times but our disobedience causes Him to cry (1 Samuel 15:22). Let's step out in what God is calling us to do. We don't need to be afraid to make mistakes as we practice what we are learning in Prophecy 101. It's our heart He is concerned with. Consider even our mistakes can delight the Lord. God bless and happy adventure with your new learning to express your love to Him. 1 Samuel 12:22.

Marilyn