are there mistakes in God's eyes?

Setting: Church office, rather boring day, lots of time to kill. Decided to write in my journal which is half prayer-journal, half-regular journal. I was writing to God at the time.


What happened: Ah-ha moment.


What I was thinking: I was thinking about how God can use me in spite of my mistakes. Even though I mess up His plan, He still is faithful and He still prevails in the end.


Then I thought: God doesn't use me in spite of my mistakes, He uses my mistakes just as much as my faithful times to grow me closer into His ways. Also, I've always seen the times I've messed up as bad, as something I needed to have a wake-up call for, a punishment, whatever. All those times when I thought, "Hey, God worked anyway, even though I messed up His plan and EVEN let me grow from it!" are almost silly because I'm pretty sure now that they WERE a part of His plan.

Heather and I were talking about this the other night. She was mentioning some things she did in the past that weren't bad but probably weren't the best, looking back. In the same breath she said that she didn't really regret those things. It sounds almost silly if you think about that and move on quickly but I really see where she's coming from. I thought about several things that happened in the past that really weren't pleasant. I don't mean spiritual warfare, but times when I messed up. Or just things that I wish hadn't happened. I told her about a particular situation a few years ago that just pretty much was horrible. I didn't handle things very nicely, the others involved didn't either... it was NOT a good time. But when I think about it, I wouldn't go back and erase that because through that God taught me a lot. Not just because I could learn from the past and know better next time, but He grew me through situations, not away from them, and I think about the things I've learned and realized that He didn't have to come up with Plan B because I messed up but that "failure" was His plan all along.

We have to realize that God works in spite of us and that His ways are higher than ours. He knows just what outcome my life will have... and nothing is a surprise to Him. We have a free will but He already knows what we'll choose and what we'll do with our lives. Instead of having the "woe is me" mindset and dwelling on all the things we've done wrong, we need to realize that God's got the big picture in sight. He knows our every step. He has a plan. So really I don't know if there is such a thing as a mistake in His eyes. Perhaps it's unfair to Him and maybe it's wrong to think that we mess up His plan. Because He's got it. Really...

"For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11... an oft-quoted verse but if you think of the context of its writing, you'll realize that this is being said while Israel is in exile for disobedience to God... even though they had disobeyed... God had plans for them: a future and a hope... He greatly used that disobedience to show Himself and His glory through them. I think that's what it all comes down to. God honors disobedience but He is so wonderful that even when we disobey, He shines through our cracks and failures. It's about Him, not you and me.

Are there mistakes in His eyes?

[scheduled post]