Saturday, May 23, 2015

Junk Drawers and Front Yards











Not long ago my husband and I went for a Sunday afternoon drive and I enjoyed gazing at the passing homes and envisioning the people who lived there.
There was a great contrast in homes ... from the ghastly to the sublime - and yes, believe it or not, someone was living in the 'home' on the right.

I suspect that most of you, like me, have a junk drawer or closet that is on your 'to-re-organize' list. Conveniently, these closets and cupboards have doors and drawer faces that present an impressive facade to our guests and hide the chaos within.

How we keep the outside of our home and our front yard is not so easy to hide - it is there in plain view for all who pass by to see and pass judgement.

I was wondering .....

Do we also have 'junk drawers' and 'closets' in our heart that we intend to one day re-organize and clean but we put it off for a more convenient day ?  
To those we invite into our life -  our guests, as it were,  it is easy to hide what we don't wish them to see and present to them only what we choose for them to know about us.

But .....
Did you ever consider that when God walks past the hearts of men, there is no hiding what is in our hearts?  Our hearts are laid bare and displayed in every detail in our 'front yard'. He sees right through the facades we have created to hide our 'stuff' from view.    

 David understood that nothing could be hidden from God  and he cries out ...  
 "O God, You know my foolishness; And my sins are not hidden from You". Ps. 69:5

 Haggar, Sarah's Egyptian slave, fled into the wilderness away from Sarah who had punished her.  When God spoke to her, she responded with surprise that God knew about her and saw her and saw her heart thoughts  ..."Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, You-Are- the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, "Have I also here seen Him who sees me?"  Gen. 16;13
To Haggar God became ..... "The-God-Who-Sees". 

If every thought, every deed, every action, every re-action,  every word was laid out in full view for all to see in the front yard of your heart .. what would it  look like ?   Would it be like the house on the left, everything in order and carefully tended? -  - OR - would it look embarrassingly like the house  on the right ?
Would you be ashamed to see God come walking down Heart Street toward your heart home?  Would you wish you had worked harder at getting your front yard cleaned up and beautified?

We have been given a sharp  gardening tool to 'landscape' our heart garden and remove from it the weeds and allow the 'good and pure' to grow and flourish. That tool is the word of God!
  Heb_4:12  For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 

We also have a Gardener waiting and willing to help us ...
Do you need to give Him a call?
Dial ... HEAVEN 911, He is always available.


6 comments:

ellen b said...

Great post Julie. I think we forget over and over again that we can't hide anything from our loving God!

Anneliese said...

Thank you, Julie! Another reminder this week that nothing is hidden from God because He is the light. Oh, how we pray for it to shine into those dark corners!

Anonymous said...

Julie - you always say the right thing at the right time...thank you. I know God is working through you. As this extra day weekend has us working to clean the house and yard...I will clean my heart too...thank you for the reminder!

Judy said...

Thanks, Julie. I'm one who likes to close drawers and doors to hide the mess...and this is a good reminder that God sees it all.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this wonderful post ... so truthful and brings to my mind how much I will find in my heart which needs to be cleared out only with God's word nd forgiveness. Jacqueline

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Greetings Julie, it's been so long since I visited here. I see you are still dispensing wise words with your wonderful stories and I am happy to see you again. I fear my heart would look all too much like the house on the right, and so I thank God for His great mercy and loving kindness to such a sinner as I am. And how comforting it is that He does see all, and in his graciousness lets us also, as much as we can handle, see the truth about ourselves, giving us time and opportunity to repent and be forgiven and changed as we call on and depend on Him. Amen and amen!