Rotted Blessing
Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night. You’re tired but you’ve got one thing on your mind. This one thing is calling you from the other room, you can literally hear it’s voice. No I’m not talking about a crying 3 year old, although that happens too. I’m talking about the sweet low hum of the refrigerator. You get out of bed, put your slippers on and on your way over to the kitchen you think to yourself, ‘what shall the midnight snack consist of this evening? there was that leftover shepherd’s pie, but who honestly likes shepherd’s pie?’ Then, like a flash of brilliance it dawns on you. In the cupboard there is a box of sweet, wonderful, delicious Honey Nut Cherrios. Oh, sweet heaven in a bowl! you grab your hardware and go to the cupboard, grab the box and watch as those golden Os fall into your bowl. Not bothering to roll up the bag you open the frig and pull out the milk. You watch as the white liquid makes a beautiful waterfall, covering the Os . As your spoon begins to move the wonderful concoction around your mouth begins to water. You bring your spoon up to your mouth and then…
you smell something. NO! how could it be?! you set your bowl down in frustration and grab the carton of milk. You pop it open and give it a smell. NO! the scent of spoil comes into your nostrils. Frustrated you pull it from your face and search for that date. It can’t be, it just can’t be! IT IS! 6 DAYS. The expiration date is up by six days. Not even bothering to put stuff away, what’s the point, it’s already gone bad, you go back to bed only to plot your revenge on the milk industry by buying Rice Milk at the store from this day forth!
I don’t know how to transition from a story like that so here goes…God stays the same. We change. Circumstances change. Perspectives, ideas, wants, desires, thoughts and ideas all change. God knows this. He makes things do this. I have no doubt that He has the power to keep everything in my life the same for the rest of my life, even the milk, but He doesn’t. Why!?
Check out the Israelites. In Exodus 16 God begins to feed them after they leave Egypt. He sends a dew every morning to cover the ground and turn into Manna. What is it? I don’t know. They didn’t know but it tasted like honey cake (you had me at honey). But God tells them, ‘only get what you need for that day.’ Did they listen? Of course not! Check out verse 20 – However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell.
Now I bet, if God wanted to, He could’ve made that Manna stay nice and fresh for at least a week, heck, maybe two. But He doesn’t. Why not!? Well, I think there are a couple things going on here. Yes, there is a reliance story here but there is a little more than that. Every morning the Israelites had to get up and look for God’s blessing. God didn’t let them collect and store and stop and sit. Every morning they were up finding out again that God had blessed them.
Has God every told you something or given you something at a very important time in your life and you take it and hide it away? But you find out that what He has done is just for a season? This is where it gets tough. You can either let go of it and trust that God will do something else in your life or you can hold onto it and pray it stays fresh in your spirit. The problem is that those old words or blessings don’t remind you of God they remind you of you, and what you need and what you deserve. Before you know it that blessing that was once so sweet starts to taste bitter every time you look at it. We all now what happens when the milk starts to turn bitter!
So what do we do? Do what the Israelites did…everyday get out of bed, go outside and pick up God’s blessing! You can’t keep the old stuff forever. Lamentations 3:22 & 23 says ”The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
God is waiting for you to come to Him. Seek Him out, get a fresh word and a fresh blessing. Quit relying on the old stuff to suffice because it won’t. Believe it or not, blessings rot. You’ve got to throw them out like old milk.
Created over 2 years ago
