Ever think much about garbage, other than when it’s time to take it out? Well, even then I don’t give it much thought, just put it out beside the curb and let the pros cart it off to a place where I don’t have to think about it anymore. But, like last week, there are those times when I forget to take it out and then I have to deal with an overflowing garbage can for another week… or do something to get rid of it in the meantime.
I got to thinking this morning ( I know, there he goes again) about how that is such a perfect picture of our walk with God sometimes. I mean, we somehow let a lot of little sins fill up our heart because we don’t deal with them, and then we wake up one day and realize that we forgot to put them outside for the “One” who can take them to a place where we don’t have to think about them anymore. So what do we do?
Well, I find myself trying to deal with them myself… I can get hold of them and use my strength to deal with them. You ever do that? Ever ask yourself why? If you are like me, the reason is that I recognize that I have not dealt with them the way I have been taught and now there are so many that I am embarrassed to take them to the Lord and admit that I let them go and didn’t deal with them when they showed up in my heart. Then I spend time, which should be expended in other ways, trying to deal with them… ok, I am not going to let that happen again, I will stop that! But it never works, does it.
I saw a vision this morning of an alley that was blocked by a huge pile of trash. It was blocking my way out of the alley to get to the main road. Sort of like how I sometimes let the sin that I fail to deal with block my way back to the road I am to be walking with the Lord. And rather than go before Him and ask that He clear out all that garbage, I vow to deal with it and not let it happen again. How frustrating and how foolish!
It sort of paints a picture for a quote from Lloyd Ogilvie that I read the other day… Sin and guilt render us incapable of self control. The more we allow sin to go unconfessed the larger the pile becomes until we begin to believe the lie that is being whispered into our ear… You have really done it this time. You are never going to get out of this mess. God is not going to forgive your sin again, you’ve gone too far this time and there is going to be huge price to pay because you failed Him again.
But thank God there is another voice that just reminds me that there is One to call on who can clear out the alley and open up the way to the right path once again… and He doesn’t just come just one day a week.
You might want to ponder these pictures this week… I know I will. I guess the message I got in prayer this morning is the same one my mother always gave me and the one my wife has faithfully continued to deliver… Don’t forget to take the garbage out!