Repeat as Needed

"Break up your unplowed ground"

Hosea 10:12

Okay, I may be pushing my luck with this lesson, but I learned something interesting today, from my shampoo.  Well, really my shampoo wasn't teaching me anything, but it was part of my realization.  Ever have an epiphany in the shower?  It's a great place to do some thinking.  It's quiet in there, except for the water, which creates a nice "white noise" to cover the neighbor's lawn-mowing or whatever.  No phone, no kids, no TV.  {I hope you don't have a TV or a phone in there!}  So it's not unusual for my brain to have a chance to turn to things spiritual.

And recently I found out something that has been very helpful to me.  This is purely worldly, this piece of advice I'm about to give you.  I'll get to the deep, spiritual stuff in a minute.  And you might already know this, and if you do, you'll probably think, "duh..."  Or maybe you don't know this, but doesn't apply to you anyway, so you won't care.  Or maybe you have the same problem I do, and this will be a help to you, too!  :)

I have long, fairly thick, somewhat curly hair.  So shampooing takes a little more time ~ and a little more shampoo ~ than it does for The Apple of my Eye, who has hair slightly longer than a crew cut.   Well, a few weeks ago, for some reason, I brushed my hair before I got in the shower.  I don't know why I did.  I never have before.  But I discovered that day that it is so much easier to shampoo!  My hair is thoroughly wet in about ten seconds, whereas it took closer to a minute or two before.  And it takes me less shampoo to get a good lather, and get my hair thoroughly clean.

It's all about preparation.  A little preparation made what followed easier, and more successful.  And that's where I started to make a spiritual connection.

The most important part of being prepared, which it comes to spirituality, is prayer.  And the most important time to prepare ourselves, is before reading the Bible.  Does that seem strange?  Well, do you brush your teeth before you go to the dentist?  Do you wash your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher?  I have friends who have cleaning ladies who come regularly, but my friends clean their house before their cleaning lady comes to clean their house!

Why would people do things like this?  So that the dentist, the dishwasher, the maid, can do the best job possible.   Well, Scripture can do a work in us, but it will accomplish more if we are as ready as we can be.  Isaiah 6 has a great passage that speaks to this.  It's only six verses long, but it's powerful.

Isaiah is speaking of a vision, wherein he saw the Lord, high and exalted, in His temple, attended by seraphim, who were praising Him continually.  The temple was filled with smoke, and shook with the sound of their voices, and it brought Isaiah to a realization of his unworthiness.  "Woe to me!" he cried out.   "I am a man of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the Lord Almighty!"

Isaiah recognized his sinfulness but was helpless to do anything about it.   Do you recognize your sinfulness as you sit down to the undeserved banquet of His Word?

At Isaiah's cry, one of the seraphim flew to him with a live coal in his hand, with which he touched Isaiah's mouth.  "Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."  Isaiah confessed his sin, and was cleansed.  Now he was prepared for what the Lord had to say to him.  Are you ready for what the Lord has to say to you?

What the Lord had to say to Isaiah, is the same thing He says to us:  "Whom shall I send?  Who will go?"  

And because he was cleansed, because he was ready, Isaiah responded:  "Here am I.  Send me!"

We can sit down and read the Word any time of day, and always get something out it.  Isaiah 55 promises that His Word will never return void.  But seed that falls on prepared ground will fare better than seed sown on rocky ground.   A little preparation can yield great growth.

~ "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear." ~

Matthew 4:9