What a Wretched Typo!

 

 

I was responding to a message

When out jumped a contrast,

It gripped my mind so powerfully

That I could not let it pass.

 

I meant to write God’s faithfulness

But wrote God’s ‘faithfulmess’

Typing an ‘m’ instead of an 'n'

Caused me severe stress.

 

I instantly abhorred my mistake

For that is so unlike my God,

God’s faithfulness is never ending

Though our faithful mess He abhors.

 

The Old Testament is replete

With the unbelief of the chosen Jews

And their consistent unfaithful mess

Is also expressed in the New.

 

And today, as born-again believers,

We are oft guilty of the same

Though beneficiaries of God’s faithfulness

Again, and again, and again.

 

 

I am using the word ‘faithful’

As I would use its synonym ‘consistent’:

God’s faithfulness and our faithful mess

As is undeniably evident.

 

For we are consistent in our mess

Yet God remains faithful to us,

And the one we have to thank for this

Is none other than His Son, Jesus.

 

Out of this world’s colossal mess

There are lessons that we can learn

Regarding the benefits from Almighty God

That we can never earn.

 

 

And while we might be improving

There is still that consistent mess:

The regular typos of our daily living

That contaminates our faithfulness.

 

But God knows the yearning heart

In spite of our faithful mess,

And the times when we act as babes

He still shows forth His faithfulness.

 

He doesn’t condone our faithful mess

And, as believers, neither should we,

But in love He reaches down and says,

“My child, come back to me.”

 

For often in our messy situations

We would try to run away and hide

But God faithfully comes after us

And draws us to His side.

 

 

For He knows our weakness

And our natural inclination to sin

So that when in life these typos occur

He invites us to come to Him.

 

Our fore-parents hid from God

When in Eden they first sinned,

They tried to cover up that wretched typo

By running away from Him.

 

But God in His great faithfulness

Implemented His redemptive plan

And His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Came and died for fallen man.

 

This outpouring of God’s faithfulness

Trumped His children’s consistent mess

And as we follow after Him,

Our typos should become even less.

 

Stewart Russell © March 16, 2021