January 28, 2022
Psalm 19:11-13 NIV
By them your servant is warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can discern their own errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
CONSIDER THIS
They are not just idle words for you—they are your life.
Back in the fall I had an epiphany—you know—the sudden and surprising realization of an often obvious kind of thing that somehow you never quite realized before. I realized that I lived in a dog house. I’ve told you about Lucy before, the little twelve pound satan of a dog we rescued from hell (aka the pound) some years ago. She is a Jack Russell Terrier/Chihuahua—two dogs who should have never been left alone in the same back yard. Anyway, back in the fall, it hit me one day that Lucy didn’t live in our house. We lived in her house. I won’t go into all the gory details, but one of Lucy’s main features is she sheds her entire coat of hair like twice per day. It’s insane, and horrible, and no matter how many times I sweep, there’s more.
Anyway, this epiphany led me into a type of grace-filled repentance (as epiphanies are apt to do). I would no longer enslave myself to the broom and all the futility of sweeping, which is really just a dog hair relocation tactic. (Kind of like trying to manage your sin instead of letting Jesus eradicate it). So what did repentance look like in this situation? I acquired a knock-off Roomba. A Roomba is one of those super expensive little circular robot like devices that moves around your house on its own schedule and initiative and vacuums up anything in its path. Somehow, it manages to cover the entire room over time in the most seemingly random way possible. It just does it. And oh my! It can eat its weight in dog hair multiple times a day.
I know you are wondering, “Why are you telling me this? What on earth does this have to do with the Word of God?” Here’s why. When we loose the Word of God from its book-ish bindings and unleash it in our lives, it works like a Roomba (or in my case a 1/3 of the price knock off). All you have to do is keep it charged and emptied out of all it collects. It is not an idle word. It is an active, moving, productive, powerful, transformative, healing, comforting, working Word.
As we anchor ourselves in the Word every single day through reading, ruminating, rememberizing, researching, and rehearsing; as we make it our first word and our last word; as we immerse ourselves in this Word, which is our life, the Word just works. This is how it becomes a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, living and active, probing and piercing, helping and healing. This is how it becomes like bread for the eater and seed for the sower. This is how Jesus makes the simple wise, gives joy to the heart and light to the eyes. This is how He orders our steps, directs our path, warns us of danger, alerts us to temptation, cleans us up and prunes us back. As we impress the Word on our hearts, talk about it along the way, write it on our gates and our doorpost, bind it to our wrist, text it to our friends, anchor in with our families, the Word does the work. Don’t hear me wrong. Our part is not passive. It’s just not primary. Our work is to simply work with the Word. The Word made flesh through the Word revealed in text by the power of the Spirit actually does the work.
It’s kind of like that Roomba. The day I got the knock off Roomba, was the day I got my house back. Lucy now lives in a human house again. And I’m looking into making dog hair down pillows. Anybody interested? ;0)
They are not just idle words for you—they are your life.
THE PRAYER
Yes, Lord, I want your Word, which is to say who you are and what you have revealed, to be loosed and unleashed in my life, running all the time, in the foreground, in the background, actively, passively, and in every other way. Forgive me for the way I have allowed it to be idle in my life by not engaging it fully through my life. Holy Spirit, inspire, illumine and ignite my life by your Word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
THE QUESTION
How does the Roomba knock off story help you? What connections are you making? How are you re-claiming your proverbial House? ;0)
For the Awakening,
J.D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com