Sacred Poop

There's a story in the Old Testament of the city, Samaria, that was besieged by its enemies. It was completely surrounded, no food or supplies could be brought in. The invading army couldn't breach the city's walls, so they merely waited for everyone to starve to death. Things got really bad inside the city. 2 Kings 6:25, tells us: "There was a great famine in Samaria; and behold, they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove's dung for five shekels of silver." The people were so starved they were paying ridiculous prices for things that weren't really food. The Children of Israel were God's chosen people, yet they paid a high price to eat dove's dung, that's right--bird poop. If you think about dove poop, it is what remains when the dove flies away. They should have been chasing the dove, yet they settled for it's droppings. This seems like an extreme story, but we are God's people, and many of us cling to things that are left after the Spirit of God moves on. We should be chasing God--His presence, His Spirit, His Word--but we hold on to how He did things in the past thinking that it is symbolic of what He is doing now. We build religion, theology, and tradition around what once was, never really realizing we should be chasing the God who IS. God IS. He isn't past His prime. He isn't in the past. A lot of times we focus so much on how it happened in the past that we miss what He is trying to do now. We build walls of definition around the "way God moves." We look at things happening in the body of Christ and are quick to judge whether it is God or not (but that's another blog for another time). It isn't that God is moving and changing--He is the same yesterday, today, and forever--it is that there is so much more of Him than we can ever comprehend and He wants to show us! He shows us one thing, and then moves on to another thing, inviting us to know Him more deeply and intimately. Most of us don't consider ourselves religious or steeped in tradition, but what "sacred poops" do you still hold onto? It is my prayer after reading this, that Holy Spirit will open your eyes and show you areas in your life where you have been settling for doves dung, instead of Him. You will find that there is so much more to Him and it is ALL wonderful. Final words: You have the Spirit of God living inside of you. You do not have to be afraid of the unknown. The Spirit of Truth will show what is real and what is not. Each of us are created unique and different from everyone else around us. And God interacts with each of us completely different. He is a personal God. Don't chase after someone else's experience, or judge that it is not God because it is different than your experience. Seek to know God for yourself and love others the way God does.

Happy Growing,

Sarah Dawn