Day 78: Clean House

Luke 11:24-26

New International Version (NIV)

   ²⁴ “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ ²⁵ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.”


I know, I know. It's been a while. No excuses, but a few explanations: first, I've had a hard time over the past couple of weeks, and I guess I just needed some time to figure things out. No major life issues or anything like that, but I started looking back at my life, at all the things I *thought* I would have accomplished by now, and all the things I haven't done, and it hit me pretty hard. It's not easy to realize that so many of your life goals haven't come to fruition. (Second: I wrote this blog last night, but the cosmos ate it. Trying again and crossing my fingers)


But I prayed a lot about it, and as usual, God answered in a bigger and different way than I ever expected. We are so blessed to serve an Almighty God who cares about us, even in the small things!


Soooo... I'm back. I've been revitalized, refocused, and I'm recommitted. Now, for this passage. I have to admit that this has been a super hard one for me. I studied for a week, and read it over and over again, and never felt that I was "getting" it. I read commentaries about it, but I wasn't satisfied with the answer. Many of them said that this passage refers to filling our lives with good; that the evil spirit came back to the house because it wasn't filled with good things. I feel that concept is refuted by the statement that the house is "swept clean and put in order". The owner of the house isn't negligent, and he hasn't left it in disarray. He's made positive changes to it.


I asked one of the wisest people I know, and he pointed something out to me that I should have paid attention to before. In Matthew 12, the parallel passage adds a clear explanation: "That is how it will be with this wicked generation." As always, the answer is there. And that answer is that Jesus is saying that, even though he's been falsely accused and wearied and harassed by the Pharisees, things will get worse. 


They do get worse... to the point that they murder the very Son of God. And it reminds me of the generation that we live in today. I see things now that I never would have dreamed of when I was in high school (which wasn't that long ago, thank you very much). The times, they are a'changin', and our society will accept almost anything. The mind reels to think that it could get worse. But it will.

Even so, there were some who believed through it all. There were some who loved Him, followed Him, even died for Him. We are looking for the some.