Hidden Messes

Upstairs we have a bonus room.  This room serves as a play room for our three energetic kids to run, play and...well, be kids. When you have three kids, you accumulate toys without even trying.  We give them away, but the toys seem to multiply.  I like all the toys to have "a home", a place where they rest when  not being used for play. However, when three kids pick up the toyroom, the toys don't always make it back to their "home".  Sometimes, they hide in a closet, or under a bed.  Often times, however, they are just put in the wrong box. 

To look at the room, it might look like everything is picked up.  It is only when one starts looking in closets and under the beds that the truth is revealed.

Every few months I reach a point where I can not stand it any longer!  At that time, we take all the toys out of their hiding places and put them out in the open center of the room to sort.  We take the stuff out of the hiding places to deal with the mess.  Then, I help the kids clean it all up.

We deal with the broken toys, the junk, and put the rest back where it goes.  

This picture was taken in April during the last sorting.

We too have hidden messes.   We have messes hidden in our hearts we don't want to address. We stuff the junk into a closet or under the bed and think, "I'll deal with that later.  It is too much to sort through right now. "

We may look "all picked up", but underneath our tidy exterior, lies the truth. 

Sometimes we don't even know the issues in our hearts.  God hides them from us until He is ready for us to deal with our stuff.

If He hauled out all of our hidden junk at once, we would become too overwhelmed to deal with any of it!  

He waits.  He reveals the hidden messes for us to sort through one piece at a time.  He brings out into the open areas of our hearts we didn't even know needed healing.  And the good news is, He will be by our side to help, to heal.   

God knows our hearts.  He knows the areas that are broken or wounded.  He knows what needs to be removed.  He knows what areas of our hearts need cleaning.

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.  You know my sitting down and my rising up;  You understand my thought away off.  You comprehend my path and my lying down.  And are acquainted with all my ways.  For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.  

Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as day; 
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.  Psalms 139:1-4, 12

He reveals and then He heals.  He puts our hearts back together.  He puts the pieces all back in the proper place to make them whole.  However, we have to allow Him to show us the mess.  We cannot keep it hidden in the closet refusing to deal with it or our hearts will never be healed.  We must allow Him to bring it out in the open.  

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me and I shall be saved, For You are my praise.
Jeremiah 17:14

It may seem easier to just leave the mess.  It may seem easier to just keep it hidden away.  It is. 

It is easier to keep the door closed and pretend the mess isn't there. 

Do we want easy or do we want freedom?  Dealing with messes and broken pieces may be work, but the end result is worth any amount of discomfort involved.  Trust me, I know.

Will you ask God to reveal the hidden messes of your heart that need healing?  He will put it in its proper "home", which is in Him.  He takes the mess and gives us a beautiful heart in exchange (Is 61:3).