Today I’m sharing an everyday devotional about trusting God in the mess of our lives. I’ve learned over and over that things usually look worse before they look better–and trusting God in the mess is safe. Read along as I tell you a story from everyday life and weave a lesson about God’s grace and truth into it.
Last week I spent an afternoon sanding down the hardwood floors in our soon-to-be master bedroom. I almost didn’t want to start. Most of the floor was in pretty good shape. There were some places where leaky windows had left water damage, or years of foot traffic had worn away the finish completely, leaving bare, exposed wood.
It was a shame sand the nice places. The only thing that propelled me into action was having faith that, in the end, the finished product would look better. What looked “kind of okay” would be breathtaking.
This brings me around to a truth that I’ve learned after working on lots of old houses:
Things Nearly Always Look Worse Before They Look Better.
Pinterest is flooded with beautiful Before & After photos. I love looking at B&A pictures. They’re addictive to me, but often, these images leave out an important look into the middle.
There’s a difficult season in the middle of any project–where things look worse than when you started. Even if you know what you are doing is necessary and will be great when its done, it’s inevitable that things will look like a hotter mess as you start to improve than when you started.
I’ve had “middle moments” when I started to wonder if things were really that bad to begin with. Yes, kitchen cabinets that are intact would be nice. But when prepping dinner means using a dismantled dishwasher as your only counter space, and cleanup means hauling all the dirty dishes upstairs to a decrepit 1950’s apartment kitchen–it’s easy to start thinking things would be better if we’d never started this project.
I’m speaking from experience.
It’s not just home improvement projects that this holds true for. Think about reorganizing, unpacking, or sorting excess. The mess always gets bigger before it comes into a new, better state.
Israel’s Middle Moment | Trusting God in the Mess
Back to sanding the floor.
As I let the sander do its worst to a mostly-okay floor, my mind drifted off to Pentateuch chapters, still fresh in my mind from the 90 Day Bible Reading Challenge.
How many times did the Israelites rail against Moses, asking him why he’d led them out of Egypt to “die in the wilderness”? Why he’d brought them away from Egypt, where:
“We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone.”
(Num 11:5)
Maybe things were better how they were before.
Yes, they were slaves. Sure, they were belittled, treated less-than, and strictly limited on how they could worship the God they knew to be true. Of course, it wasn’t ideal. But in the heat of the desert, in the midst of that “middle moment” where they’d been didn’t look so bad.
As a modern reader, it’s easy for me to judge Israel. I mentally scold them for not trusting God in the mess. I easily shame them for having weak faith and faltering. Isn’t it obvious? God has something much bigger and better planned. Why don’t they just hush up and eat the manna? Cool your jets, God is doing something huge and wonderful for you–just give Him a hot second.
It’s easy to take that stance when we know the ending. And not just the ending of that journey, when they really do reach the land flowing with milk and honey. We understand that all the law and the prophets and the wandering lead to reconciliation to God for all people, through the sacrifice of Jesus–His perfect, holy son.
We’re blessed to have a more complete picture. Israel, however, was living the “middle moment.”
Fear in the Middle Moments
As I sanded the floor down I felt great empathy for these people. For them, Egypt was the only home they’d ever known. Slavery was the only lifestyle they’d ever lived. It might have even seemed “basically okay.” Walking away took guts.
Like taking a sander to a floor that was basically okay.
What if I take the finish off and the new stain looks crummy? How will I fix it if I just make it worse?
What if we left Egypt–and all we’ll ever know now is dry, dusty wilderness and wandering?
What if we threw away an unpleasant, but stable existence only to watch our children die out here?
How will we ever live with ourselves if there is no promised land and this whole journey has been wasted?
The floor looked more ragged and dingy while I sanded. The once clean room was covered in dust.
Things nearly always look worse before they look better.
Intentionally Take Heart in Your Middle Moments
Friends, let’s be encouraged by the generations before us. Maybe you are about to jump into something that will shake up your world. You know it needs to happen, but you’re nervous. Plaster this truth on the walls of your heart: Things may look worse before they look better. But God is the author of beauty and redeems even the biggest messes.
Maybe you are in a “middle moment.” Some corner of your life is in total disarray. You want to put things back, but it’s too late. You’ve walked out of Egypt. You’ve turned the sander on the floor. Keep moving forward. God will lead you out. Intentionally reminder yourself: Things look worse before they look better. God is bringing something good from this mess. (Get more encouragement from the Moving Forward in Hard Times series.)
Maybe you are lucky enough to have walked through the “middle moment” and come to the promised land. Hold on to the clarity you have. Do not praise your own strength or effort. Remember, what God brought you through. Continue to seek the ways He worked through that season, continue to praise Him. Write it out. Remember what He has done. Recall it often. Do not make the same mistake as the Israelites.
They stopped talking about it. They stopped teaching their children about that hard season in the wilderness. Eventually, it was a vague, distant tale. And again, a hard season crept upon them, another trial. Another “middle moment.”
No matter where you are, or what you are facing, remember that things may look worse before they look better. But, when we walk with God, we can trust that we are being led toward a finished product, a destination far better than where we started.
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