From time to time everyone encounters an “oops!” You know what I mean. The car won’t start, the refrigerator is left open and the food spoils. Some oops are bigger than others. There are also oops of gigantic proportion. These oops often occur to our health and our jobs.

How do you deal with the oops of cancer or of your house foreclosing? Or the oops of a sick child?

You have stories in your life that are similar to mine. You have stories that are unique as well. We all could sit down and share a story or two, or forty… of things that we could consider an oops.

Telling our story doesn’t help us deal with the oops of life but it does give us opportunity to reveal the common thread in all of our lives. That thread is intertwined from person to person, generation to generation. It is seamlessly woven from the beginning of time until now. It has never had a time throughout history where the thread has ever been broken.

I would think that the story of oops began with the fall of Lucifer. Eventually leading to the sin of Adam and now, fast forward to today. It continues throughout the lives of all people who, apart from God are nothing.

So what is the correct response to oops? This may seem like such a ridiculous notion, but I see it to be rejoice. The idea of rejoicing during times that just don’t seem to work out is not new. It is Biblical. Paul says in the book of Colossians that he rejoices in what had been suffered to them. In the book of Philippians he says he rejoices in all things.

There are more. However I think that all the verses in the Bible could be written on this page regarding this subject and unless one truly understands rejoicing in trials, they would just be that… words on a page.

The heart is a tricky thing sometimes. It brings us great joy and often turmoil. It helps us feel love and hatred. The heart, when desiring to please God, sees an oops as an opportunity to see His hand at work. If we believe Him, then we believe He is good and His ways are perfect.

Are you going through an oops right now. If not, just give it a few minutes. You will be. We all have circumstances that cause us to question God’s goodness and if we allow it, every single oops will show us how he loves us and turns everything to good regardless of how it may appear at the time.

• When you get the flat tire on the highway – Praise God
• When you lose your job – Praise God
• When you go to the hospital and are diagnosed with an illness – Praise God
• When you neighbor brings you grief – Praise God
• When you lose a child to a tragic death – Praise God

I am not talking about pretending that what happens in life is trivial and we shouldn’t grieve. Absolutely we should. God loves to hear us cry out to him and acknowledge his goodness in times of trouble. He loves us so much that he will always comfort us and turn every oops from bad to good. From evil to righteous. From painful to healing.

How do we deal with an oops? By loving God, praising God, trusting God, and expectantly waiting to see His good and mighty hand work all things together for good for those who love him and area called according to his purpose…

That’s how to deal with an oops.

Blessings,

Keith