Many of us have heard of the term “reclaimed wood”. This is wood that had once been used as
a door, or rafters in a house, or an old barn that had been torn down because
of years of neglect or maybe even a fire. Or maybe it was an old piece of
furniture like a chest of drawers that had been set out for the trash because
of one too many gouges in the side, or a corner that got chipped off or perhaps
a knob broke off. For whatever the
reason, the previous owner no longer wanted the chest and it was then
considered trash. But when used
construction material or used furniture is taken, stripped of paint, sanded
down, and old nails and screws are removed so it can begin a life as something
new, this is called reclaimed wood.
Someone has seen something beautiful and found value in that piece of
wood, old window or old dresser.
A lot of times things can happen in our own lives that
damage ourselves in ways we think are beyond repair. A lost job, a lost loved one, an emotional hurt or
maybe a sin we’ve committed that we just can’t seem to forgive ourselves of and
are certain God will never forgive either. These are life-changing events and sometimes we allow parts
of our life to die after they’ve occurred. We allow the pain to scar our minds and souls so we spend
the rest of our lives with an emotional limp that never seems to go away. We feel that because of the pain and
hurt and suffering we’ve experienced that it’s clearly a sign that God has
abandoned us or even worse, was never with us at all. But the fact that we know what pain feels like means that we
also know what it feels like to be healthy and vibrant. It means at some point we have already
experienced God’s love and grace in our life whether we realized it at the time
or not.
Deuteronomy 31:8 says,
“Do not be
afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither
fail you nor abandon you.”
Now this doesn’t mean that God keeps us from experiencing
pain and sorrow because He doesn’t.
The reason there is pain and sorrow in the world to begin with is
because people’s sin and selfishness create them with our actions and our own
words. This was not God’s design
for Creation, it is what we made it by allowing sin into our lives. But this verse means that despite the
pain and sorrow we have of our own making, God is with us and will never
abandon us. He will always make
himself available for our healing and restoration. He will reclaim our lives if we let Him and we can reclaim
our lives to serve Him. Those
parts of your life that were once scarred or dead can now have those nails
removed, those nicks and gouges sanded down, and new purpose can be found in
what was once left to rot. Will
your life ever be just as it once was? No, but it can still be beautiful and
others around you who might have gone through or are going through the same
pain you experienced can find hope in your life and can learn from your
experiences.
We can choose to rot like wood sitting in a pile in someone’s
backyard, wasting away or we can reclaim our lives for God and allow the beauty
of the scars in the weathered wood of our lives to find a new home with a new
purpose. Choose a new life.
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