“For God speaks in one way,
and in two, though man does not perceive it.
In a dream, in a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
while they slumber on their beds,
then he opens the ears of men
and terrifies them with warnings,
that he may turn man aside from his deed
and conceal pride from a man;
he keeps back his soul from the pit,
his life from perishing by the sword.” Job 33:14-18
“Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,’
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.” Psalm 139:7-12
A silent still home, flooded, untended, looks intact, normal from the outside. The magnificent morning with its cool breeze and pink sky before dawn over a city in so much pain reminds that the Lord watches. He sees all, He knows the ruin, the compromised strength and spread of inside decay. And He also, by grace, like wind chimes tolling their beauty, brings the song of supernatural enabling, refreshment, peace, and comfort in devastating heartache and loss. (Psalm 42:8)
We cannot escape God’s all-knowing Spirit. He searches us and knows us and oh, how He loves us. He stirs invisibly to awaken our conscience, to sharpen our sense of smell to all things rotten, to irritate our eyes with the dust of decay. He moves in the heart to break our will, and turn it around to His while He gently bends our knees. When we recognize the muck inside for what it is, and acknowledge that our moldy mess is an affront to God and poisons the heart and devotion, we are ready for Him to take charge and clean it out. He enters with omniscient eye and gentle hand and precise tools to remove all that prevents a whole, undivided heart. He desires nothing less.
What keeps us living in the shadows? Why do we hide behind pretty exteriors? What compels us to keep closed the curtains on our pesky sin and refuse to unlatch the windows of our soul and open up to His renewing breeze? Is it an unwillingness to let go of what we’ve long loved and coddled, but eats at our purity? Is it fear or shame? He sees it all anyway. He is not fooled. Our failure to confess is a failure to respond to His love.
The Lord is relentless in His pursuit of undivided hearts, and any errant idol divides devotion. He orders both seen and unseen to awaken us to His grace and ability to cleanse. How will we respond this day?
Good Father, in mercy tend to my rotten heart. Tear out all that would spread destruction and renew my spirit unto wholeness, to the praise of Your greatness and glory. (Psalm 51:10; 86:11)
As the rain and snow 