It seems, by the law of averages, that if you have a 50/50 chance of getting something one way or the other, you would get that something right about 50% of the time. But life does not work that way. Case in point: modern electric plugs have one prong larger than the other, designed to fit into a socket that has one slot larger than the other. You would think that when you just randomly grab a cord and plug it in, you would have that plug turned the right way at least 50% of the time. But no! It doesn’t work that way! Even though it can go in just one way or the other, for some strange reason, about 95% of the time you have it turned the wrong way, and you must back up, turn it around in your hand, and align it the correct way to plug it in! It is the same way with banana chips in trail mix. Banana chips are my least favorite item in the mix. Looking at the bag of items it appears there is a very large percentage of nuts just waiting to be grabbed. But no! Again, it seems that about 95% of the time, with a random plucking in the bag of goodies, I come out with a banana chip! I think, “Well, I’ll just go ahead and eat all the banana chips so I can get to the parts that I really like.” But, deciding against that, I just have to stop, look into the bag, and carefully pick out those choice morsels that I desire. I can’t just make a free-for-all grab and get what I want!
A lot of time life is this way. It seems that sometimes, most of the time, things just don’t work out the way we want them to. We must make a measured effort to get what we want or to make things work. If we fail to do that, we can end up angry, frustrated, condemned in our conscience, or thinking everything and all are against us. What really leaves us in a mess is if we have all that operating in us because “life just isn’t fair.” Granted, things happen that are just not fair or right. There is a time for reaction and for lessons to be noted and learned. Then, there is a choice to make. We must choose to live the balance of our life under the shadow of “not fair” or “not right”, or, in the light of “favor surrounds me” because of Jesus (Psalms 5:12; 30:5; 44:3).
We will labor under the expectation of “not fair” and “not right”, or, we will enjoy life buoyed by the expectation of good things lying ahead in spite of the bumps in the road or the trees blocking the highway. Because Jesus paid the price for our cleansing, our healing, and our favor and empowerment from on high, through faith in him we can expect good things in life.