You Want to Have a Sweet Time with God
In the stillness of the early morning, with snow gently falling, I tenderly laid my Bible in front of the advent candles and reached for the matches. Lighting candle one and candle two with great reverence, I prepared to meditate on a verse of Scripture and spend some moments in prayer. After dousing the match in some water, I threw it in the garbage.
At that point my sweet time with the Lord was over before it even began. From the garbage rose the stench of old lettuce. So nasty. Stupid lettuce, I thought. Why did you have to ruin my time with God today?
In a show of great maturity, I realized I should continue my time with God, even though the gentle Christmas feeling was gone. So I waited for the smell to dissipate and approached the lit candles and the Bible again.
My reading for the day was Psalm 80:19 (NIV):
Restore us, O Lord God Almighty; make your face shine upon us…
I suspected God had planted the lettuce in my garbage can, to prime me for this moment with Him –a reminder that my sin is putrid and restoration is necessary.
The candle-lit, quiet-morning feeling is what God wants with me, too, I imagine. But each choice I make to please myself instead of Him spoils that kind of enjoyable relationship.
So I’ll be emptying the garbage this morning -from the kitchen and from my soul.
Is there any sin in your life that you need to confess and turn away from, before you can enjoy sweet fellowship with the Lord?
Ah yes, if it wasn’t for all that stupid, stinkin’ lettuce! Got some of that as well. I think I’ll go light a candle, open my Bible, and think about that for a minute or two.
Don’t do it over the garbage!