This summer, the mosquitos must have placed me on the top of their "best bites" list because they dined on my legs and arms as if they were eating at a scrumptious buffet! As soon as one bite stopped itching, another would flare up.
Thankfully, no matter how uncomfortable the itching has been, it is only temporary. An itch, by its very nature is a temporary thing. Even persons living with chronic skin conditions like eczema get relief sometime, especially if they use the necessary creams and medications.
Even in the most severe cases of itching, the solution would never be to completely remove all of the skin on the entire body just to relieve the itch. That would be an extreme and permanent fix for a temporary problem.
We must be careful not to employ permanent fixes for the temporary itches that flare up in our lives.
Some of us may be itching for affection. We must be mindful that we don't latch on to just any old back scratcher that is eager to scratch us just where we think we need scratching. If we're not careful, we could trade a minor itch for a major, more contagious one-- something more difficult to reach than the one we started with.
Whether we are itching for affection, acceptance, fame or fortune, as long as we live on this side of glory we are going to be itching for one thing or another. We must always remember that Jesus understands our struggle, "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all [points] tempted as [we are, yet] without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)
Whatever our desires are, we must submit them to God, for those that are in line with God's divine will and those that emanate from our delight in Him, we will receive:
"Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him." (1 John 5:14-15); "Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4).
Any itch or desire that we satisfy by leaning on our own understanding puts us at risk of moving away from God and away from our divine purpose and destiny. In fact, some of the so-called fixes for our itches can leave us permanently scarred, marred, labeled or disabled--and THEN we decide to run to God for help!
Let's not panic every time we have a flare up that it seems we just can't satisfy. Some of what we're itching for will never be satisfied in this life. That's fine with me, because I am finally beginning to accept that all of what we experience in life is ultimately temporary anyway. The only thing truly permanent is our eternal home in glory, and that is where we will find the ultimate, permanent fix for our temporary itch:
"Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body." (Romans 8:23)
BNcouraged!
Rev. Karen
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