Clean out the cushions!

Once again God is showing me that I can see him in the everyday things.  The things that we can all relate to no matter where we are in our walk with him.  Yesterday He showed me a “couch”.

Have you ever lifted the cushions off your couch?  If you have, you know that a lot of junk gets lost within the cushions.  Sometimes we can find a treasure in there.  Maybe some money or something we have been looking for and thought would never be found.  Most of what we find however is garbage.  Old food, paper and sometimes things we are not sure we even want to touch.   

I remember sitting on my friends couch one night with my daughter, our exchange student and my friend’s daughter.  We were all talking about how comfortable the couch was and how we could go to sleep.   As my exchange student ran her hand between the cushions to feel how thick they were she got the most surprised look on her face as she pulled out a steak knife.  Yep, I said a steak knife.  Tucked into those comfy cushions was something very harmful. 

We are a lot like those couch cushions.  We, over time can collect not just sin but we often stuff the pain from our past deep down in our hearts. Sometimes we may not even be aware we are carrying it.  Than again, maybe we know it is there just like we know there’s stuff in our couch cushions but; we avoid it.  As I sat on my couch God showed me that we all have to clean out the garbage we collect with in us.  We need to repent from our sins.  We need to ask God to show us if there is sin we don’t even no about.  God also wants to clean out any pain we are holding from our past and give us freedom from it.  Some us may be carrying things within us that can truly cause us harm. Much like the steak knife we found in the couch that night.

Psalms 51 is David’s prayer to God for forgiveness and cleansing.  We can all learn a lesson from David in this.  We all need to occasionally do some deep cleaning between the cushions.  Verses 1 and 2 are powerful and apply to us still today.  Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.  Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 

I hope as you read this you will want to do some deep cleaning not just between your couch cushions but within yourself also.  David goes on to pray in verse 10: Create in me a pure heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit with in me.  

It’s time to do some cleaning!!