Love notes, and other uses for dust.

As a teenager, I learned the basics of cleaning house.  Mom “made” us do our own laundry (thanks, Mom, so very, very much!!), and we were responsible for keeping our own rooms clean(-ish).  Dusting was part of it, and if you ran out of Pledge, then a damp rag would suffice.  

They say “practice makes perfect”, so leave us say I am a less-than-perfect housekeeper, much less. Whoever comes to visit should leave the white gloves at home.  Never quite sure what you’ll find under the bed either, and a flat dusty surface is for writing love notes,…isn’t it?

My not-quite-Heloise skill doesn’t make me less appreciative of God’s perfection, however.  Case in point, I love this description of the Baal vs. Yahweh encounter.  The prophets of Baal do all they can, and more so, to get their god to light the sacrificial fire on their alter, yet have nothing to show for it but raw hamburger.

Now it’s Elijah’s turn, the true God’s true prophet: 

“At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, ‘O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command.  O LORD, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.’”

No fluff or firebrands.  And to make it more intriguing, Elijah had made the people dig a trench around the alter, dowsing it with so much water that the little homemade mote filled right up.

“Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench!”

 I didn’t even know dust could burn! 

 This account speaks more to me than about the omnipotence of God Almighty.

God wants my whole sacrifice, not just part of it.  This includes all of my painful past, all of my currently held offenses, all of my future concerns.  It’s in allowing Him to burn it all up that gets others’ attention and brings Him the most glory.

The Holy Spirit is a complete housecleaner.  He not only knows about the rattling skeletons in my closet, but also about the tiniest cobwebs in the corner.  He wants even the dust particles of sin and worry!

This is what it looks like:

“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”

And…

“…seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”

Everything.  That’s pretty decisive.  I guess it’s because His love note was written in blood.

1 Kings 18: 36-38; 1 Peter 5:7 Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

2 Peter 1:3 New American Standard Bible (NASB)  Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation