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Listen while you read: "The Love Of God"1
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Matthew 15:25 – But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." (ESV)
Recently, the flat roof over my office leaked, and I had to mend it and repair the ruined internal walls. Deep joy — not! Before our arrival here, the garage had been converted into a living space. As a result, this external half of a garage became my office, where all my gear was piled high in cupboards, drawers, and shelves above my desk.
To stop myself from being totally overwhelmed by the enormity of the remedial task, in and of itself, I undertook the preliminary job of clearing out the office stuff: desk, printer, scanner, camera, video display units, clocks, hub, speakers, computer, heater, shredder, phone, filing shelves, files, lamp, boxes of stuff to keep, and so on, all piled into the adjoining bedroom on the bed and floor, and in the outside shed.
Several days later, with used-up tins of tar and leftover wood, plasterboard, paint, materials, and sore muscles, it was all done — so far without any further signs of water leakage, even through a continual trail of thunderstorms, whilst apparently the rest of the world has been dealing with forty-degree Celsius heat.
In the end, exhausted from restoring order to the office, and with several piles of things still to be sorted, I bought a large 80-litre box to postpone the ordeal for another day. The box is now overflowing, sitting next to my desk, looming reproachfully, whilst out in the shed there are other things calling to be put away.
Over the intervening weeks, as usual, I had to be the person providing taxi service for the family, doing the chores, changing the windscreen wipers on the car, getting the caravan ready for holiday, fixing other matters, and mostly avoiding cleaning up the box and shed.
Today, I heard an inner voice: "You know that there is this box of life's unsorted stuff calling out, too. You carry it in your heart, and you put off unpacking it, so every now and then, it snags on life, and something from inside spills over — times when you doubted My love, when you felt guilty, when you were afraid that I did not hear you, when you feared being deserted, or when you were ashamed that you were too angry to let Me help."
What is in your box today waiting to be faced up to and given over to Jesus, Who wants only to help get things sorted out and put in their proper place?
Prayer: Lord, we are created to praise You and to give You the glory in taking captivity captive. In praising You, we can let go of ourselves in the times when our sorrow, guilt, and fear are about to burst our hearts. We no longer need to hide them, and we give You permission to stay with us to sort this out together. In the name and companionship of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
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About the author:
Rod Marshall <roderickhenrymarshall@gmail.com>
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
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Thanks for the good word, Rod.
The story of my life! Thank you for the reminder, Rod.
I read your devotional today and it reduced me to tears. I think I have a box. Thanks for letting me know.
Thanks Rod, for the reminder that we do need help getting things sorted out and put in their proper place, not in a “storage box”. Blessings.
Oh Rod, you cannot disguise yourself. I knew you wrote this one and I have a wonderful picture of you in my mind! Once more you relate your story to scripture and made me think.
Thank you, Rod.
They say that ‘A man’s work is never done.’ But, you had a lot on your plate!
Blessings!
Good one. You’re not alone with an overflowing box to be sorted.
Thanks for writing.
Autumn tasks abound. The glory of God in gold and red leaves!
(Manitoba)
Rod – you create such a compelling scene into which we are drawn; I can sense the turmoil in your office space. Then, you make the valuable move to invite us beyond the visible, to strengthen our relationship with God.
Thanks for your faithfulness.
Hi Rod,
Well that was a lot of work you accomplished. It is great that you are so handy.
I relate to your storage box because I stuff feelings further down so I don’t have to deal with them at the moment. Even though I know I will feel better once I turn them over to God, I will continue to procrastinate.
Thanks for sharing your experience and hopefully you will get to the box and shed as the cooler weather approaches. Blessings.
I can relate to your “storage bin” metaphor, Rod. It’s a handy way to accumulate our “unfinished business” to sort later. I am touched by your testimony of how the Lord drew your attention to the “items” which have accumulated in your heart and must be burned. This reminds me of the hymn lyrics, “Spirit of God, descend upon my heart…. My heart an altar, and thy love the flame.” Just last week I wrote in my journal the words: “My altar is getting piled with more stuff to burn.” It’s wonderful to see this refining Spirit blowing across the ocean – England as well as Canada. PTL.
Good challenge, Rod. Thanks!