Close Enough
I can't speak for you, but I don't always use the right tool for the job. Sometimes I'll just grab something that's "close enough" and try doing it anyway. Here's a list of some of my more memorable "close enough" moments.
Something's caught between my teeth and I don't have any dental floss. So, I jam a credit card or toothpick in-between my teeth to push it out. Close enough.
Need to break up some ice and I don't have an ice pick. So, I grab a screwdriver or chisel. Another option is to just drop the ice on the ground. Close enough.
I was repairing a kitchen lamp with something other than the exact sized screwdriver. And rather than going to get the right one from the garage, I tried, and tried, and tried, and kept trying to make the one I had in my hand work. What should have taken 5 minutes at most turned into a 90-minute exercise in futility. And oh, by the way, I wrenched my back in the process. Close enough.
The Christmas tree wasn't straight, so I pushed and pulled the tree till it looked straight. About 10 minutes later the tree fell with a crash, scattering ornaments all over the place. Close enough.
My laptop was running hot. So, I moved a big fan onto my desk and pointed it right into the back of the laptop. A few days later it died from overheating. Close enough.
I was changing the oil in my car and accidently dropped the oil filter. Without thinking, I picked it back up and installed it. When I started the car, oil flew all over the place because the rubber gasket that keeps the oil in the engine flew off when I dropped it. Close enough.
I've been in lots of dentist's offices and chairs. I never heard anyone say, "Well, that's just not the right one, but it's close enough." Dentist's don't do that. They have lots and lots of tools and gadgets to fix our teeth. Just look at all the drawers in their office.
And more than just tools, they have the training, skill, and practice to know exactly haw to use all that stuff. They don't have to excuse themselves while they go into the next room to watch some Do-It-Yourself master class video on how to drill a tooth. It takes years of education and training to earn the title of dentist. And they don't take that lightly either.
Funny thing about God though, he's never not been God. There hasn't been a day that he wasn't God. He didn't graduate from some expensive school back east to become God. He didn't have to pass any written tests. There were no practice sessions where God got to fix something small before being allowed to work on something big. He's always, always, always been God. Period.
For me, I find that comforting and reassuring. God's got all the power, knowledge, and experience in the universe. There's nothing new for him. He's never going to turn to us and say, "Gee, I've never seen that before. What do I do now?
Yes, God's close to us. And he always, always, always has the right answer to our problems. He never uses some half-hearted solution to our problems. He's never going to use something that just close enough. He's personally going to show up. And that's all we really need.