The Elephant in the Room

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you know there is something going on but since you have no idea how to deal with the thing that is going on you just try to pretend there is nothing going on?

Yea, me neither.

I don't think there is anything more awkward that finding yourself in that situation.

I have walked in on people who were obviously arguing and you could actually sit on the tension in the room like a couch of bricks because it is so apparent. But, everyone is doing their best to pretend it is not there.

Then there have been the situations when you know that something bad is coming, yet everyone is bound and determined to act as if nothing is going on. So, you all laugh and pretend and do your very best not to stumble on the large problem sitting in the middle of the cramped room.

I am reminded of King David after the death of Uriah. Nathan comes to visit David afterward. I am sure that David greeted him warmly. I am sure that there was some small talk.

But, standing in the center of their meeting place was this huge elephant; this large sin that is hard to ignore.

Nathan said, "David, what would you think if there was a rich man who had many flocks, but there was also a poor man who had one little sheep that he had raised up with his family and that he loved. And then, one day, there was a man who came traveling through and the rich man ordered the poor man's little sheep to be killed for the traveler?"

As many of us would have also reacted, David was upset, indignant.

Isn't that the way we do?

We waltz around the sin in our own lives and yet, let us hear about someone ELSE doing something!

We become like a dog with a juicy bone. And we have all of the answers as to how someone else should handle their own sin without looking at our own sin that has us pressed to the wall.

"That man needs to die!"

David quickly offered his opinion to Nathan to which Nathan replied, "Oh, but David, that man is YOU."

I know there is all of this forward thinking today that says we don't need someone in our lives, in our business. I mean, after all, Jesus is our Friend, right? He overlooks our faults, doesn't He?

No matter what the sin it will fill the chambers of your heart causing there to be no room for anything else. Sure, you can ignore it, but elephants get hungry.

And as you continue to feed that elephant, that sin, it will continue to grow.

My prayer today is, Lord, send me a Nathan. Send me a man who won't look at me, look at my sin and pretend all is right in my world. I would much rather have a man that will say to me "Thou art the man."

And, like David, let me recognize myself and my sin. There is no way you can live with an elephant, live with an obvious sin, even one you pretend is not there, and not eventually smell the stench.

Lord, help me to always listen to Your Word and Your man that You send to warn me. I know you are a forgiving God, but first I have to know to ask forgiveness. I realize that we can live in our sins so long that we don't even notice them anymore, at times, even though they are growing larger and larger.

Please, send someone with a word for me. Don't leave me in that room with the elephant of sin. Sooner or later I will get trampled if You do. Help me to listen, and help me to repent, to turn away from that sin. I don't want an elephant standing in the way of seeing Your sweet face.