Come On, Give It Up

Micah 7:19 -- "You will again have compassion on us; You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea."

Looking over the black, slightly padded surface of the fold-out card table sitting in my kitchen, I sighed. It was dotted with little bits of fuzz popping up from the vinyl veneer - like bean sprouts sticking up from the soil in a garden.

image: pamperedpuppy.com/auntieemsguide.wordpress.com

Adding to her collection of claw picks, Djibouti, our cat, kept scratching and picking at the table top in an effort to "cover up" her kill from would-be predators. I looked down at the empty plate where barely a crumb of her cat foot was left and said to her "hey, I think you got it. It's buried and gone."

She ignored me and kept picking at the vinyl. A true exercise in futility. Not only could she NOT cover up her "kill" because there was nothing with which she COULD cover it - but the plate was empty. There was nothing TO cover. I turned back to KP duty but couldn't help the smile that spread across my lips. I liken our little beauty queen Miss Priss of a kitty to a dog with a worn out bone. The juice and all that doggie good stuff may be long gone - but the dog keeps worrying at the bone - in spite of having already completed the job of picking it clean.

I do that. Not so much with a bone in my mouth or an empty plate of cat food - but more with the debilitating guilt that shadows me after I've done something to disappoint my Savior. Like Peter Pan's shadow, that horrible knot in the pit of stomach will taunt me, trick me, and drive me to the end of my wits.

I'm glad that God will ALWAYS tread my iniquities underfoot. I have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ - if God can hurl all of my sins into the depths of the sea - why is it so very difficult for me to do the same?

There is a good chance that I will not be able to answer that question in this life-time. The one thing I CAN say for certain - is that God forgives me. Once I ask Him to forgive me for the things I've done wrong - He remembers them no more.

I am so very grateful for that!

So, come on - give it up. The thing - whatever it might be in your life or mine - is gone and buried deep. It's over. Don't put yourself through an exercise in futility. If your working yourself to death over a bone that's already well taken care of - your not being fruitful for Christ.