Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a mess?  A little mess like spilled milk?  A big mess like a broken down car?  A huge mess like loosing your job?  Messes come in all shapes and sizes.  Some messes are more complicated than others, especially when multiple messes overlap.

According to Webster.com, a mess could be “a disordered, untidy, offensive, or unpleasant state or condition.  In this life messes happen.  There is disorder.  Things are untidy.  The circumstances we find ourselves in may be unpleasant.

Some messes happen as natural consequences of our own choices.  When we choose to not clean and put away our stuff, messes happens.  When we speak quickly with rash emotions, messes happens.  When we attempt to force and control circumstances to our pace opposed to being patient, messes happen.

Other messes occur outside of our own choices.  The weather can bring a mess, a mess of wet heavy travel reducing snow on May 1st.  Storms, roasting heat & humidity, freezing cold.  Mess, mess, mess.

It could be the choices of others bring disordered, unpleasant conditions to our lives.  Be it our colleagues or bosses at work, our families at home or a the workings of our governmental system of state & country, messes can come our way outside of our control.

Accidents happen.  No one intended something to happen.  No one could foresee the combination of factors within their scope of knowledge and understanding that would make an accident take place.  Accidents leave everyone involved in a mess.

Illnesses happen.  Health starts to fail or fade in peculiar ways.  Doctor visits.  Tests run.  Potential treatments are explored, some work and some do not.  Trips to a specialist.  An official diagnosis.  A new treatment plan.  We are left in the middle of a mess.

We are not alone in the middle of the mess.  Jesus, who has seen, experienced and lived through the greatest of messes, is there for us.  His arms are spread wide to wrap around us and cover us with His mercy; Mercy in the Middle of the Mess.

“Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.”  Hebrews 4:14-16 (Message)

Jesus is experienced and knowledgeable about what we are going through.  He knows the mess, but He also sits at the right hand of the God the Father.  Let me say again, His arms are spread wide open for us, in the middle of the mess.   Jesus has unlimited mercy for whatever situations we are going through.

This miraculous mercy flows richly out of the love the Lord has for you.  Messes do not happen on advanced time schedules or during selected hours of the day.  They occur haphazardly and chaotically.   Messes leave us in a disarray, disheveled in shambles.

No matter how messy we are, how unpleasant the circumstance, regardless of whether is was our own choices or not that got us there, Jesus is in the middle of the mess with arms wide open waiting to cover us in mercy and help us through.

What messes are going on in your world today?  Are they big messes or little messes?  Are they complicated with no end or solution in sight?  Are they small and seem to be shadowed by the enormity of other peoples messes?

Big or small.  Jesus offers a rich, lavish, peace filled mercy in the middle of our mess.  Let’s do what these verses from Hebrews say, let’s take the mercy in the middle of the mess.

Beloved Lord,

Messes happen.  Yucky messes that make us want to withdraw and run away.  Messes that make us want to fight and blame.  Messes that make us feel alone and unwanted.  The middle of a mess is an awful place to be.

In the middle of our messes, may we find You, Lord.  May we find Your arms wide open to us and may we receive the richness of Your mercy within our mess. 

In the merciful name of Jesus, amen.