My dad, a plasterer, built and patched plaster, cement, and Stucco walls and ceilings. On small weekend jobs he would sometimes take me with him to "help".
Fixing a bathroom wall in one of Houston's underground walkways, he started beating around the patch area with a hammer. "Why are you breaking off more plaster", I protested, "we are supposed to be fixing the wall not making it worse!" More plaster veneer continued to fall.
That's when he taught me something I never forgot.
He told me he was not beating hard enough to damage the wall but that he had to remove what was already loose because if he patched over it the loose part would eventually fail and the blemish would be worse than ever. Removing the loose stuff was part of fixing the problem.
Someimes we ask Jesus to fix our problem(s) and matters seem to get worse. We feel like the banging of life takes away more than we had hoped and we wonder why God would allow, even seem to purposely make, more to happen.
That's when we need to remember He
IS fixing the problem. He is only removing what would fall away anyway. He is ensuring his "Patch"
(don't go off on a tangent about the term "patch") will hold. The repair is coming, be patient and confident.
"...now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:" - Hebrews 12:26b-28 (KJV)
