Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite
Used in rhyme when tucking children into bed, “Sleep tight, Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite.”
I hadn’t really given much thought to this until my home became the residence of bedbugs. I won’t go into how they entered my home, but here they are. And they DO bite. The bites itch, they burn. The bugs run, they hide. Sometimes I can find one, or two, or six, and eliminate them. But there are still others, hiding, waiting.
The smallest bedbugs can barely be seen with the naked eye. On my nightstand is a magnifying glass. That magnifier is one of my weapons when I’m fighting the “Bedbug Battle,” other weapons include bug spray, flashlight, a vacuum cleaner, even a pocket knife. Sometimes the bugs win but usually those I find, I dispose of promptly and permanently.
I found myself asking God, “Why me, why bedbugs? This hasn’t ever happened to me before, why now?”
God’s answer: Sin is a lot like bedbugs.
I began to compare sin and bedbugs. You know what, God is right. Sin IS a lot like bedbugs. There are “small” sins and “big” sins. There are “small” bedbugs and “big” bedbugs. The small sins and the small bedbugs are easier to hide. But they still BITE. The bites still itch and burn. Big sins and big bedbugs tend to reproduce, to get bigger, to get worse, to infest deeper. And they still bite. HARD.
We try to hide our sins the way bedbugs try to hide. Away from the Light. Bedbugs do not like the bedroom lamp, or the sunshine. They hide. Sin doesn’t like the Light of Christ. It tries to hide. We try to hide it too.
Fighting the Bedbug Battle takes weapons of war. Flashlights and magnifying glasses, vacuum cleaners and bug spray. Fighting the battle against sin takes weapons of war too.
“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people” Ephesians 6:13-18 (NIV)
Heavenly Father, give me the weapons and the strength of Your Spirit to defeat sin in my life. Search it out, shine Your Light, eliminate anything unworthy in me. Lord, I also ask for Your help in ridding my home of the bedbugs. Let my weapons be diligent in that battle as well.
~Cindy Payne, January 2017©