Day Three Hundred Thirty-Seven “Embedded”
Here it is, a challenge to your problem-solving skills. Hydrogen peroxide, raw potatoes, lavender oil, Epsom salts, baking soda, banana peels, white vinegar, honey, and duct tape…do you see a common thread, a common use? I find it interesting that all of these items are listed among suggested natural home remedies to help in the removal of embedded splinters. Ouch, we have all been there! Be it from a thorn in the garden, a shard of broken glass, a loose sliver of metal, or a rough wooden railing, that teeny foreign invader accidentally gets embedded into your skin. Out come the tweezers and the excavation begins! Sadly, even if it is minute, if it isn’t properly removed, redness, swelling, and tenderness are sure to follow. Wood splinters can contain oils and resins that will cause serious inflammation, and the thorns from some plants are toxic. If a splinter is contaminated with bacteria, tetanus can follow, leading to life-threatening illnesses.
“But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.” This is a severe warning from a holy God to the people of Israel. God clearly directed His children to rid the Promised Land of its pagan inhabitants, all of them. If any inhabitants of the land remained, they would become painful splinters and thorns to the Israelites. But Israel did not heed the warning of God, but instead “Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites,” and it wasn’t long before they “served their gods.” The splinter was not removed; infection and spiritual death followed.
When we are grafted into the family of God by the grace of God, we become new creations, “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” We are justified, declared not guilty in the eyes of a holy God, and that salvation is for sure and secure. But if we are not cautious and keenly aware, splinters can invade our spiritual life, those secret sins, nagging habits, little things that we know displease God but are so difficult to remove. It is then that we need to take the tweezers of God’s Word and pray with the psalmist, “cleanse thou me from secret faults.”
Others may not see those hidden splinters, but our Father does, for “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do,” and He is ready to help us remove that splinter and restore our fellowship with Him.
Psalm 91:12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Lord, keep me keenly aware of those secret sins, those splinters that if allowed to fester, can bring ruin to my spiritual life.
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