A Satisfying Sound

Micah 7:18-19 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. 19 You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

The Terminix man's schedule always has him arriving at the church just a couple of days after his last treatment wears off. How do I know? My office is on the same leg of the hallway that houses two restrooms and the closet with the janitorial sink. From somewhere in the depths of their building code required floor drains emerges a couple of large, black, creatures from the Carboniferous era of 280 million years ago -- cockroaches. I'm not talking about little black bugs. I'm talking about roaches that we try to saddle and go cattle roping on.

The 1960's era building has your ubiquitous 12 x 12 tiles laid in a pattern on a concrete slab…a nice, hard concrete slab. The walls are painted concrete block, the ceiling, sprayed. In other words, an echo chamber.

When these six-legged blasts from the past have their two or three day "free period" before the next chemical attack, I use the old fashioned "shock and awe" approach keep them under control. I shock them by introducing them to the sole of my size 9 1/2 Rockports which bear my 190 lbs. of weight and then listen in awe as the resulting CRUNCH echoes up and down the hallway. It is an deeply satisfying sound.

Roaches are gross…but they're a reality demanding our attention.

Our sins are gross…and they're a reality demanding God's attention.

We can't eliminate the roach's grossness without eliminating the roach. When we stomp the roach, the whole roach is dead. Our sins require death, as well, but we thank God that by His grace, through the gift of His Son, the only thing He treads underfoot are our sins and not us. I bet it's a satisfying sound. Don't you?