-AUTHOR UNKNOWN

My mother's father worked as a carpenter. On this particular day, he was building some crates for the clothes his church was sending to an orphanage in China. On his way home, he reached into his shirt pocket to find his glasses, but they were gone. When he mentally replayed his earlier actions, he realized what had happened; the glasses had slipped out of his pocket unnoticed and fallen into one of the crates, which he had nailed shut. His brand new glasses were heading for China!

The Great Depression was at its height and Grandpa had six children. He had spent $20 for those glasses that very morning. He was really upset by the thought of having to buy another pair. "It's not fair," he told God as he drove home in frustration. "I've been very faithful in giving of my time and money to your work, and now this.”

Months later, the director of the orphanage was on furlough in the United States. He wanted to visit all the churches that supported him in China, so he came to speak one Sunday at my grandfather's small church in Chicago.

The missionary began by thanking the people for their faithfulness in supporting the orphanage. "But most of all," he said, "I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year. You see, the Communists had just swept through the orphanage, destroying everything, including my glasses. I was desperate. Even if I had the money, there was simply no way of replacing those glasses.  Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches every day, so my coworkers and I were much in prayer about this. Then your crates arrived. When my staff removed the covers, they found a pair of glasses wedged between two blankets.”

The missionary paused long enough to let his words sink in. Then, still gripped with the wonder of it all, he continued: "Folks, when I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had been custom made just for me! I want to thank you for being a part of that.”

The people listened, happy about the miraculous glasses. "Surely the missionary must have confused their church with another,” they thought. There were no glasses on their list of items to be sent overseas. 

But, sitting quietly in the back, with tears streaming down his face, an ordinary carpenter realized that the Master Carpenter had used him in an extraordinary way. In one of God’s Other Ways, God had provided and fulfilled His plan with a “perfect mistake”.

There are times when we tend to blame God for misfortunes, illnesses and other upsetting circumstances that occur in our lives. We live in a fallen and imperfect world since sin entered into the world in the Garden of Eden. We should not blame God for every problem that we encounter.

Remember:

    1.  God created you with a free will…you have the ability to make choices and to reject God's Plan.

    2.  God’s ultimate goal is to bring you closer to Him and to make you more Christ-like--that may differ from your goals of comfort and happiness.

    3.  God’s perspective is far greater than yours. Your desires, wants and opinions will always be based on your own very limited view of this world--the here and now.       

Don’t blame God for every misfortune you encounter; rather than jumping to the conclusion that God “made a mistake”, thank God for His wisdom instead of blaming Him!  God may have resulting big plans in store right around the corner, for you and for others that you can’t possibly imagine. Only God can make “perfect mistakes.”

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And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 NASB

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. 1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19 NLT