Flipping the “brew” switch on my coffee maker this morning, and heading to the basement to start a load of laundry was my intent. But when my bare feet hit the kitchen floor, and STUCK to it, a bucket, a wash rag, and a half-cup of Mr. Clean suddenly became more important than laundry. I dragged my kitchen chairs out into the hallway, and after sweeping, I hit my knees.
Yep, I hit my knees. To scrub the floor, that is! There is no cleaner floor, than one that is hand-scrubbed on hands and knees. But there is also something about POSTURE that allows the Lord to get my full attention. There I was, down as low as I could go. I could see all of the splashes, all of the stains from dripped spaghetti sauce, sticky spots from spilled orange juice that I had somehow missed when I quickly cleaned up a spill, and there was just plain old DIRT down there, especially in the difficult-to-reach corners!
This is a perfect picture of my heart, I thought.
When my sons both lived at home, I scrubbed my floor two to three times a week. There was 3 times as much traffic in and out, 3 times the amount of dirt being dragged across the floor, 3 times as many spills, and 3 times the number of crumbs that fell. I thought back to all of the little boy muddy shoes that came in, and I would say, “SHOES OFF AT THE DOOR!” I thought about Rory’s muddy boots after hunting trips, and Ian’s soaking wet, filthy shoes after a shift working at the car wash.
It’s true. I don’t need to scrub my floor nearly as often as when there were three of us living in this home. But from a perspective down here on my hands and knees – It turns out, I can make quite a mess myself! And my own shoes have a good amount of dirt on the bottom of them, as well. In fact, there are even quite a few crumbs underneath the table, the same kitchen table where so many conversations about Jesus take place with friends and family. My sons no longer live here. So, these crumbs, these stains, this dirt down here? It’s mine – ALL MINE!
Back to my POSTURE…… The Lord never seems to waste an opportunity to give me “glimpses” of Him, or to teach me a lesson. So mid-scrub, I stopped, and when I began to get up, bumped my head on the edge of the table. Ouch! Apparently, on my hands and knees is where He wanted me. So there I sat. And there, I prayed.
Scripture tells us in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” And, I can tell you that without getting down on my hands and knees, I would NEVER have seen this dirt. I may have even blamed it on visitors who came and didn’t leave their shoes at the door, or maybe my sons dragged this dirt through when they visited! I needed to see that not only are my shoes as dirty as everyone else’s, but my heart is just as deceitful as everyone else’s too!
But the Truth of the matter is, we ALL have our own “dirt,” and as hard as we try to blame others for it, or try to shift the responsibility to someone else to get it cleaned up, even at times with sin in our life, when we wish for someone to just be there while we complain about it, and look to them to hug us and comfort us through it – That floor will stay sticky and the dirt will continue to add up in its corners, (as well as those in our hearts), until we get alone with God, get on our OWN hands and knees, confess our OWN need for Him because of the SIN in our OWN lives, see it for what it is, and turn ONLY to God to do a work in us. I have plenty of friends I could call to come over and they would, willingly, scrub my floor. They may even be willing to give me a hug and agree with me that it needs a scrub! But what I REALLY needed, was to see how very, very good I am at creating my own mess – and then do that hard work on my own, to clean it up!
The same thing goes for God. You will NEVER, ever, ever fall in love with the God of the Universe, or appreciate the depth that He went to in order to SAVE YOU, until you get a good, hard look at your very own, very personal, need for a Savior – Yes, your very own mess! No one can do that for you. You must see your very own spaghetti sauce splashes, orange juice drips, and the dirt you dragged in on the bottom of your very own shoes. You must see your own sin …….. And you must allow the Lord into the very deepest corners of your heart, and so, must I. Our friends cannot do that for us, and it is unfair for us to expect them to. They are NOT GOD!
I’m thankful this morning for posture. I’m thankful for the friend who once told me to get on my face before the Lord and ask Him to reveal any sin in my life. I’m thankful also, for that friend who, instead of coming over to hug me and encourage a pity party, was a good enough friend to wisely encourage me to get on my face and humble MYSELF before the Lord. She could have easily hugged me and allowed me to yank her down into my own misery that I so desperately wanted someone to share with me, but instead – She pointed me to the Cross, where on my face, she knew the Lord would meet me just the way I was, and that ONLY He would be able to help me, change me, do a work in me- HEAL ME! I’m thankful for her encouragement to be obedient to the gifts and talents the Lord entrusted me with. I’m so glad she didn’t try to “play God” as my friend, but instead insisted that once she walked away from me, that I had some time alone with the Lord, not her. She knew, it was HIM I needed – not her.
I just might scrub my floor a little more often now…. If you come over and find me sitting underneath my kitchen table, or on my hands and knees scrubbing, please know – I don’t want you to join me down here. I want you to encourage me to stay down here, until my ENTIRE floor is clean, or until the LORD does a work in me!
Just push the “brew” switch on my coffee pot. I’ll be up in a few………
And may I suggest, that you too, find a posture where the Lord may speak to you. Don’t invite others. Don’t place unrealistic and unfair expectations on your friends, expecting them to do what only God can do. Get on YOUR knees. Ask God to reveal YOUR dirt. You just might find peace right there, underneath your very own kitchen table.
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