In the Middle of My Little Mess

{The title is a reference to the song This is the Stuff by the lovely Francesca Battistelli.}

Have you ever had one of those times when you were struggling with something and, while reading a Bible passage that seemed completely unrelated to your situation, came across a verse that ended up being that thing you needed to hear?

I had one of those moments last night.

After my regular Bible reading was done, I was still feeling like I was missing something. So on a whim, I turned to one of the places I had bookmarked: Daniel chapter 3. If you don't know off the top of your head, that is where we read about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace.

The chapter was bookmarked because this was the "Bible Event" (as our Commander prefers to call them) that I talked about when it was my turn to do a Bible lesson for the Awana kids. The theme for our lessons this year was miracles, so my lesson focused on how God protected the three men who had stood up for what they knew was right according to God's Word.

But as I read through those verses again, another point struck me.

In verse 27 it says that after Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had come out of the furnace and everyone was gathering around they "saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of the fire had passed on them." God protected them so fully that -after being in a fiery furnace that the king had ordered to be made seven times hotter than usual- they came out without even smelling of smoke. 


I felt a little bit like I'd been punched in the gut. If God can protect three men from smoke in the middle of a pit of fire, it's silly of me to act like He doesn't notice all of the little things in daily life that I get frustrated with so easily. God knows that I get bothered by things not being put back in their place. God knows that my nine-year-old sister and I are both willful - and usually take different stances on things. And God knows that I usually don't react the way His Word says I should.

When I throw a fit (because, really, "losing ones temper" is just the name we use for 'grown ups' having a tantrum) I'm going against everything God says about patience, humility, and love. And He knows it.

That fact is really helping me become more committed to changing my attitude about those things that "get under my skin" - because He knows exactly what He's doing.