Backing out of Trouble

It is hard to step out into the internet without bumping into a cat video. For your entertainment pleasure, here is a compilation of cats with their heads stuck in things.

My favorite thing about this clip is how the cats think they can back out of something they are stuck in. Watching the clip we can easily see that the cats could walk backwards for a mile and still have that potato chip bag on their heads. 

I wonder if God watches "clips" of humans in bemused trouble. Does He shake his head and whisper "silly children" under His breath? If this is true, then I personally have been the source of much laughter. 

Cats have one excuse for getting stuck in things. They are curious and want to have a sniff-map of their world tucked away in their heads for future reference. Any new object in the territory needs to be explored and categorized. 

I have no such excuse for the problems I cause myself. 

Oh, I have plenty of reasons: pride, gossip, idleness, to name a few. But, I have no excuses. God did not create me to sin. He created me perfect and from my conception I have been fine tuning my ability to get myself stuck in my own sin.

This verse in Amos draws a picture of how we walk from one sin induced trouble to the next. We walk blindly into trouble and our attempts to escape the consequences of our sin are in vain.

 

It is darkness, and not  light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the  house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a a serpent bit him. 

Amos 5: 19, ESV

The intent of the verse is to show how we cannot elude God. He will find us in our unrighteousness no matter how we try to backpedal our way out of it. 

 

We may try to blame others, but God stands before us with the truth.

We may try to claim an excuse, but God stands before us with the truth.

We may resort to denial, but God stands before us with the truth.

We sit in a darkness of our own making. 

But, God's pursuit of us is not limited to holding us accountable for our lack  of righteousness. God seeks to return us to the Light, by making us, once again, righteous.

Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. Micah 7:8, ESV

We may put our heads into one bag or box after the other. We may try, in vain, to extricate ourselves from our humiliation. We may disappoint again, and again, and again. Each time our Heavenly Father gently picks us up and removes the darkness of our own sin with the blessed forgiveness offered by our Savior. 

We are sinful. We are silly. We are His precious children.