"You Should Have Seen It Before We Had It Fumigated!" (Isaiah 29:15)

Several years ago, I was enjoying a meal with my wife’s family in a well-known restaurant. In the middle of the meal, my nephew let out a scream. We all turned in his direction to see him pointing under the table. He had lifted up the tablecloth to reveal a dead rat! Several waiters quietly came and swept up the rat, but not before I took a picture of the entire event with my cell phone. I chided one of the waiters, “Wow, that’s pretty bad.”

The waiter looked at me, nonplussed. “You should have seen it before we had it fumigated!”

Yikes! Is that supposed to make me feel better?

At that point, the manager arrived and after hearing our complaints, declared, “There is no rat! We don’t have rats in this restaurant!”

What?

It was comical for the restaurant to attempt to deny the incident ever occurred when the evidence was plainly in view AND I had captured the event on my cell phone. I quickly showed the photo to the manager who immediately apologized. After another half hour of a heated discussion with my brother-in-law, he agreed to comp the entire meal.

Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord,

And their works are in the dark; They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?”

Isaiah 29:15 (NKJV)

As I reflected upon this pathetic incident, I could see myself, like the restaurant manager, denying my own sinful behavior even though it is in view for everyone to witness. I’m not arrogant. I’m not prideful. And if I am confronted with the evidence, I am quick to make an excuse.

Who am I fooling? Who sees me? God. He sees everything; my secret shameful sins; the sins I commit when I think no one is watching. Do I really believe that if I deny these sins, that God will look the other way? For many years, I did believe that. But God, in His mercy and grace, changed my heart and brought me to the point when I confessed and repented of my sins, and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

Thank you God, for seeing everything in my life and changing me to become like Jesus Christ.

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.