STINKING LUNCH PLATES
I had some weird behaviour as a teenager. I was lazy. My school uniform gets washed a day before or very early on the day I need it. I would spread it on the standing fan so it can get dry quite fast.
That is not as weird as what I do with lunch bowls. We used those tall grey plastic packs used for medicines those days. We had a lot of them because a relative owned a medicine store.
Whenever I return from school, I leave the pack in the bag. In the morning, I would discover it was still there. To avoid detection, I would slide it under the bed. I would pick a new one to use. When the coast is clear, I would dig two or three from under the bed.
Can you imagine the stench from unfinished meals like beans? It was irritating and nauseating. By the time I wanted to wash the pack, I am blocking my nose. There were times I just threw it all away. I repented the day Dad discovered unwashed packs underneath my bed. I changed my ways.
Beloved, when you get exposed on the path of wrongdoing and the stench of your conduct fills the air, there are times that it is mercy that is speaking. Mercy is preserving you from judgment. But if you keep messing up and you take pride in the fact that you cannot be caught or you have not been caught, and you keep perpetrating wrongs, be careful! Judgment may be around the corner.
Achan dug a hole in their tent and kept accursed things there. Here is his confessional statement:
When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”
Joshua 7:21 NKJV
At the end of the story, the covered trench consumed the entire family. Who knows whether the wife and children saw it but kept quiet? There are times when you must never be silent. If your spouse is hiding a stench that can consume your home, scream. Why? A house of fire will not just consume the man or woman, it can wipe out an entire generation.
When God wanted to have mercy on David who was attempting hard to cover his stench, God sent Nathan the prophet. Why? His stench was already consuming his family. His son raped his daughter. Another one took the life of the rapist in a calculated and evil plot. His stench was spreading. Only the mercy of God kept it from becoming worse.
A little leak will sink a great ship. What you cover up can eat you up. Think about it this way:
If you come into your home, and spot a snake in your kitchen, you will not go to sleep saying it is just a snake. Can you imagine that you turn your back and the snake slithered into a corner you are unsure of? Will you just sleep? Will you just go to bed saying ‘It is just a snake’? Most likely not. You turn the whole place upside down till you deal with the snake.
Do not build on pseudo-peace. Do not manage the stench. Soon, it will come out and it can end up consuming the entire family. Husband and father, what are you hiding? Gideon hid a child out of wedlock who returned to kill all his children.
Deal with that stench!