Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Have You Made Your Bed?



"Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good;
he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." – 1 Peter 3:10-12


Here in the south we have a saying. “She made her bed, now she has to lie in it.” I remember being about 9 years old and first hearing this from my grandmother. One of our relatives was going through a tough time in her marriage, and my grandmother said, “She made her bed, now she has to lie in it!” I thought at the time, what does this have to do with her problems? Should she sleep them off?

Have you ever slept in a bed that was made up with wrinkles in the sheets? I may be a bit more sensitive than some, but I find it uncomfortable. The folds of wrinkles bunch up under you and feel like pockets around your feet. A bed made with no wrinkles, sheets pulled taunt, to me, is much more comfortable, and gives a better night’s rest.

This old southern cliché means that if you make your bed with wrinkles, you’re the one that has to sleep in it and pay the price for being sloppy. But we use it not to refer to a bed, but to our lives. We can bring “wrinkles” into our lives by making bad choices or going against God’s will for our lives.

1 Peter 3:10-12 tells us that we should turn from evil, hold our tongue, not lie, and seek peace if we want God’s blessings on our lives. Far too often we “make our own bed” by going against this teaching. We twist the truth, spread gossip, find ways to create conflict whether intention or not, and cause God to turn his face from us.

When we find ourselves in this condition, we’re only one repentant prayer away from being able to straighten things out. Psalms 139:8 says “If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.” Sin doesn’t separate us from the love of God, only His companionship. How wonderful it is to know that the companionship we so desire and need with God is only a prayer away.