Did you ever read the fairy tale about the princess and the pea? It was a story about a girl who turned up one rainy night at this castle, wet, tired and hungry and asked to spend the night. She was then given a bed to sleep in that had numerous mattresses and pillows and I am not sure what else to make it extra comfortable. In the morning her hosts asked her how her night had been and she responded by saying how uncomfortable it had been. Yes, she had been warm and dry and had slept on top of 20 mattresses but still there was something under those mattresses that made her night unbearable. Turned her black and blue!
We turn the page and discover that the hosts had placed something under the mattresses. I think, not sure if I remember this correctly, but they had been searching the kingdom for a wife for their son, a prince. And this is the test they would give all ladies who came to visit. They would put a pea under the mattresses. The belief was if the lady did not sleep well throughout the night, then she must be a real princess. Exactly what the lass had proven.
I read this story when I was probably 6 years old and I never forgot it. I remember wondering what a pea was. Yes I did. At no time did I think that this was that little round green vegetable thing. No way. It never crossed my mind that that was what the story was talking about. It must have meant something else. You do know that this English language often has one word that means two, three or six different things! Who knows? Maybe this word “pea” had more than one meaning. Guys, I was six! I had yet to learn how to use a dictionary! To add to my confusion, I did not pronounce the word as “pē ” rhymes with “pee” but as “pe-ah” rhymes with “pear”. Now if you come from Eastern part of Africa, you do know that that word exists, right? Kiswahili word for “give”.
Anyway, this is the confession. I only realized that the story was talking about the actual pea, that rhymes with pee, when I was seventeen. Yeah, you can go ahead and laugh. It is true. For eleven or so years, because I did not know what the pea that rhymes with pear was, I did not appreciate the story. How such a tiny thing would be cause someone who was probably exhausted have an uncomfortable night. Oh, I now know fairy tales are ridiculous, but it does lead me to wonder how much damage a lack of understanding of a word can cause someone.
Case in point, recently, I was studying the scripture below.
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence,
so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Hebrews 4:16
I had never understood why this scripture was used as the goto scripture for teaching about praying and prayer. As I studied it, I had many questions, like what are we meant to do? Why a throne? Why throne of grace? and my other question was why would I be happy to receive mercy and find grace when all I wanted was a job? Or a promotion? Or a heart-stopping sexy man? or…… (fill in the blank).
This is where understanding the meaning of a word is key to appreciating text. I remembered the other day listening to someone explain the difference between justice, mercy and grace. Justice happens when you get what you deserve, Mercy is when you do not get what you deserve and Grace is when you get what you do not deserve. Now, I have always looked at justice in terms of someone does something wrong, I want them to get punished severely for what they did. I want justice. Often, when I would use that word and hear it used, it was always in reference to punishment. The question then arises, how about when I get what I deserve? For example, I work hard in the office on a project increasing efficiencies in a system and I am rewarded with a promotion. That is fair and just. I have gotten justice – what I deserve.
Going back to the scripture with this reasoning then it now makes sense why we are asked to approach God’s throne of grace. Hidden under the numerous mattresses of unexplored meaning is a pea, a plea for to approach God ready to receive not what we deserve but much more than what we deserve. May we, after praying, leave His presence refreshed and not tired, black and blue.