Last week I was having a problem with my kindle—I thought. I had plugged it into a charger the night before that we keep continually plugged into a power strip. The next morning, it had not recharged. What could be wrong?
After fiddling for a few minutes, I noticed that no orange light glowed from the outlet switch to indicate the outlet I’d used was turned on. There was nothing wrong with my kindle. The problem was that, inadvertently, the power to the outlet had been turned off. As soon as I flipped the switch, the icon appeared to tell me the kindle was charging.
As I stared at my kindle, I wondered how often in life we think there’s something wrong with our marriage, our job, our life in general when the real problem is that inadvertently, we have turned off the power.
It can happen so subtly—we allow ourselves to be offended by something our spouse says or does. A few days later, something else happens that rubs us the wrong way and before long, everything they say and do irritates us. We find ourselves snapping at our spouse, at our children, at our co-workers, wondering all the while what’s wrong with them.
Or perhaps a temptation from our past rears its ugly head and we yield to it until it again becomes a besetting sin. Once again, we wonder why nothing in our lives is going right. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Looking at our sin, recognizing that it’s there, and doing nothing about it is one way of turning off the power.
However, I John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We’re also told, “Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed” (James 5:16). Some tenacious sins may not lose their grip until we’ve confessed them to another person. God knows we need the prayers of our Christian brothers and sisters to get free.
Sometimes life is simply hard for no reason, but when things aren’t going well, it’s never inappropriate to check the power switch.
Thank you, Father, that even when we’re the ones responsible for turning off the power, you are waiting and longing to forgive us and restore it once again. Amen
