Lessons from a Dead Lawn - Rake

Yesterday, we mused over the dead lawn that I have. We saw in Job 12:7 (HCSB) "But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you." We compared this verse with learning spiritual lessons from a lawn that had "winterkill." And in this, we mused over the fact that when we allow the frost, snow, and ice of life, and the variance of being hot or cold for Jesus, we spiritually can experience winterkill. Not loss of salvation, but the loss of relationship and the beauty of it. We discovered to restore the lawn it would take me doing some things - rake, aeriate, seed, water, and wait.

Today, consider the idea of raking. My wife and I spent two days raking the dead material out of my lawn. We have a small mountain of brown dead grass piled at the curbside. Before the restoration of our lawn can take place, we had to remove the dead to make room for the new grass to grow. So, after much work, leaving us with sore backs, blistered and sore hands, and the need for some extra rest - the dead lawn has been removed, and is ready for the next step.

So, how does this have to do with regaining the joy of one's salvation (Psalms 51:12)? Well, before God can grow our joy again, we must first remove the deadness from our souls. The sin that we have allowed into our lives must be "raked" away. This is not often easy, in fact it can take great work. We must look into ourselves and discover any thing that comes between God and ourselves (Psalms 66:18 KJV - "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me....") And then, we must confess that sin (1 John 1:9) and allow God to expose any other areas that we need to rake out of our lives. This process can be painful at times - we have the tendency to want to hold on to things that often displease God - and He has to cut them out of us. Once we have allowed God to excise from us the iniquity we harbor, we are ready for the next step - aeration.

Muse over the need to rake out of your life those things that hinder your joy of the beauty of the relationship with Christ. And, if necessary, spend some time in repentance and confession before God today. Join me tomorrow when we discuss the next step - aeration.