Treatment for pests have become more intense since we discovered snakes in our bathrooms. The supervisor with the company that covers our termite inspections gave me a lengthy explanation of why their company offers pest solutions instead of the usual pest control. He described the differences in how they would treat one home that might be different in another. There are solutions that work for ants and roaches, but not for spiders, which I will not go into here. You certainly would not expect the same treatment for snakes as you would for spiders. The general rule for rats and snakes is to prevent their entry, which means that you will be charged an enormous free for them to seal all the crevices in your home, including cracks under your roof line. Snakes climb and can come into your attic. They are after the rats that come in the same way.

All this may seem impossible to imagine, especially for old folks like Jerry and me. But, it is just more of the same happenings of the wilderness in which we live.

Since we started living by the Glad Rule, we never cease to find something good in all the episodes we experience. In every event, the Lord teaches us and grows us in our faith in Him (Romans 8:28-29; 2 Peter 3:17-18).

We thank the Lord for the snakes. When the exterminator came, he took a video of the water gushing down the back foundation in our basement. We think the solution to stop the water may be unclogging a downspout. We will know when the rain comes today or tomorrow.

Where were we going with the title Control or Solution? Everything of this physical life seems to have a parallel in the spiritual realm. Andrew Murray stated in his book Waiting on God that “all nature becomes a preacher” in our relationship with God.

In this case, my thoughts this morning ran to a recent sermon on the first commandment from the book of Exodus. The difference in the physical and the spiritual is, God gave the commandments for His people to reveal their sin and His requirements. Though they are the rules of His kingdom, He knew they would not control the sins in our lives. They were like putting a No Trespassing sign outside our home for the pests. Even if they could read, they would not understand. They would still come into any opening available. God’s plan was to post what He wanted, but the commandments were, as Paul wrote in Galatians 3, only a precursor to what He would accomplish through the life, death and resurrection of His Son. The law could not keep His people from sinning. The solution for treatment for the pests in our lives would come later.

“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Galatians 3:24

The difference in how the Lord works as our exterminator is, that He covers His people with the blood of Christ. He draws us to the cross where we are washed in the blood of the Lamb. He covers the crevices. No place is left open to the enemy of our souls.

We are filled with His Holy Spirit, with saturation of all the counsel of God and under a consuming fire, being kept by His power until the day of Christ’s return (1 Peter 1:5). His Word continues to fill us with His grace, written on our hearts and in our minds, spoken by His Spirit within us to remind us of who He is and whose we are. We are His dwelling place, and will He not take care of His house? Let us relinquish all to Him ~ for His glory and our joy.

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Revelation 12:11

Gracious Father, we have no defense of our own; no solution for the cleansing of our sin, except by your provision for us. Fill us with the power of your Holy Spirit, the Spirit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray and live. Amen.
Fran

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