Good Bones

My sister just bought a house. It is a neat house, on two wooded acres with a pond...but quirky to say the least. The previous owner was an antique dealer so the house is filled with antique doors, knobs, lighting fixtures, leaded glass windows, etc...as I said, neat. The quirkiness is that none of it matches. A metal light fixture from the 30's & a porcelain one from the 60's. A leaded glass window with a striped pickle next to an Anderson casement bay window. She has assured me [and herself I think] though that the house "has good bones". That got me to thinking about bones. Do you have good bones? I believe I do...now. The thing about bones is that no-one can see them [unless you've been dead a while or are seriously injured] so you can dress up the outside and be hiding rotten or diseased bones on the inside. So, what causes bad bones? Lets' listen to King David, who knew a thing or two about bone rot.

There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your anger, nor any health in my bones because of my sin. Psalm 38:3

Why did he say there was no health in his bones? Because of his sin. We all know about David's notorious sin, but don't forget that we know because God told us. If you lived during David's lifetime, you likely would have had no idea [unless you were Joab]. Do you have sin, hidden sin, that eats at your spiritual bones like termites on a floor joist?

For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away. Psalm 31:10

What a description of guilt and regret eating away at the structure of a man who outwardly was a man's man. A king to be respected and feared. There was no joy in the eyes of that smiling man. His sighs were heavy, his energy, his zest for life, was drained out like forgotten headlights drain a battery. And, he says, "my bones waste away".

When I kept silence, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. Psalm 32:3

He was groaning inwardly and it was making his bones old. Can you relate? The weight that just never seems to go away? How can you bring back health to your bones? Notice what David identifies as a cause here. "When I kept silence"...We all commit sin, we will never escape that. What we can refuse to do though, is to keep silent. This secrecy is Satan's trick. If you keep it secret, if you keep your sin hidden beneath the sheetrock, paint, & wall paper, behind the couch or the entertainment center of your life, it will rot your bones.

I think the new house has great potential to be something special someday, with lots of work. Because visible, quirky, ugly and even serious problems can be fixed...if you have good bones.