I was working at my computer at work a week or so ago. Simply going about my work when suddenly I received an error message. Not too uncommon, really, but this one cracked me up. I tried to find an image of it to insert here, but to no avail. The error message, in a typical blue Internet Explorer error box, stated:

“Something went wrong . . .”

Exactly those words, even including the three periods. I laughed out loud at my desk, and chuckled about it all afternoon. However, I found myself considering the weight of those three words. “Something went wrong…”

It was just one kiss, but then something went wrong.

It was just one drink, but something went wrong.

It was just one movie like that, but something went wrong.

I just looked away for a second, but something went wrong.

I was so committed, so involved, but something went wrong.

I just charged a couple of things, but something went wrong.

I let it slide with my child only once or twice, but something went wrong.

“Something went wrong…”

Things go wrong. Plainly spoken, things go wrong. Sometimes because of something we choose, or something we don’t choose, or something completely out of the blue hits us square in the eye. And suddenly, something goes wrong. A big something or a small something. A big wrong or a small wrong.

Life is full of somethings that go wrong because of our choices. Ask David–one look from a rooftop and something went wrong that led to murder. Ask Stephen–he chose to be bold and speak truth and something went wrong that cost him his life. Ask Judas–somewhere along the way, he took his eyes (and heart) off Jesus and put them on money and something went wrong that ended up driving him to suicide. Ask Ananias and Sapphira–they just wanted to keep a bit of the money for themselves, but they misrepresented the truth and something went wrong that cost them both their lives.

Life is also full of somethings that go wrong over which we have no control. The company downsizes. Miscarriage. Cancer. Infertility.

It would be–it is– easy to get caught up and dragged down by all of the “something went wrong…’s “. But there is a choice there, too. God say he knows us intimately (Jeremiah 29:11, Psalm 139:13). Nothing is a surprise to Him. From Him, we never get a “Something went wrong…” message. No, from Him, we get an invitation to rest in Him, to trust and rely on Him, to love and be loved back unconditionally. He expresses His desire to bless us–not because we deserve it but because it pleases Him to do so–to bless us far beyond anything we can ask or imagine, exceedingly abundantly. We can have complete joy-complete joy-in Him who makes it complete. We can choose to know and believe, and live like we know and believe, He knows everything happening in our lives, everything we are encountering in our daily walk, our constant companion and friend. His concern and care are genuine! It is so far beyond what mankind is able to achieve.

Have you ever given yourself over to the compassion of the Lord? Can I just tell you, from experience, you cannot begin to imagine how wonderful it feels to allow yourself to be wrapped up by the promises of the Savior, the love of the Father and the peace of the Holy Spirit. Worship of the Lord is so easy when you feel wrapped in His love, overwhelmed by His grace, abundantly blessed, overflowing with joy and gratitude, and blown away by His willingness to love us just the way we are.

There are numerous links in this post. All of them testify to God’s glory and love. I invite you to grab a blanket and a warm cup of hot chocolate and cozy up with the Word. I promise you will be changed.

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