diff --git a/states/module.go b/states/module.go
index a7a09f5a9..fa9e71993 100644
--- a/states/module.go
+++ b/states/module.go
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ func (ms *Module) SetResourceInstanceCurrent(addr addrs.ResourceInstance, obj *R
 			return
 		}
 		// check for an existing resource, now that we've ensured that rs.Instances is more than 0/not nil
-		is := rs.Instances[addr.Key]
+		is := rs.Instance(addr.Key)
 		if is == nil {
 			// if there is no instance, but the resource exists and has other instances,
 			// be chill, just return
@@ -130,14 +130,12 @@ func (ms *Module) SetResourceInstanceCurrent(addr addrs.ResourceInstance, obj *R
 		rs = ms.Resource(addr.Resource)
 	}
 	// Get our instance from the resource; it could be there or not at this point
-	is := rs.Instances[addr.Key]
+	is := rs.Instance(addr.Key)
 	if is == nil {
 		// if we don't have a resource, create one and add to the instances
-		is = NewResourceInstance()
-		rs.Instances[addr.Key] = is
+		is = rs.CreateInstance(addr.Key)
 		// update the resource meta because we have a new instance, so EachMode may have changed
 		ms.SetResourceMeta(addr.Resource, eachModeForInstanceKey(addr.Key), provider)
-
 	}
 	is.Current = obj
 }
diff --git a/states/resource.go b/states/resource.go
index 7f58543c4..da883ddab 100644
--- a/states/resource.go
+++ b/states/resource.go
@@ -39,6 +39,13 @@ func (rs *Resource) Instance(key addrs.InstanceKey) *ResourceInstance {
 	return rs.Instances[key]
 }
 
+// CreateInstance creates an instance and adds it to the resource
+func (rs *Resource) CreateInstance(key addrs.InstanceKey) *ResourceInstance {
+	is := NewResourceInstance()
+	rs.Instances[key] = is
+	return is
+}
+
 // EnsureInstance returns the state for the instance with the given key,
 // creating a new empty state for it if one doesn't already exist.
 //