It was a brand new toothbrush. I unwrapped it and carried it into the shower. After a good scrubbing I opened the shower door and tossed it in the sink. Never in a thousand tries could I ever have duplicated what happened. It hit the rounded sink, where I wanted it to go, but then launched out in perfect arch into the toilet bowl. So much for a brand new toothbrush. Alas. I believe it was Robert Burns who wrote something about “The best laid schemes of mice and men” going awry. No matter how carefully we plan something and prepare things can go wrong.
There are some who maintain God’s plan of redemption could not go wrong. Sending Jesus here to die for us was a plan that could not fail. Should that have been true then it was all a sham. The fascinating horror was that Jesus was, in the words of theologians, peccable. He could have failed. The writer of Hebrews 3 tells us, “For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
This was no playacting. Everything hung in the balance as He cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane. How marvelous it is that God’s plan did work and we are the benefactors.
Written by Roger Bothwell on June 19, 2013
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