5 Seconds Every 10 Seconds

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hat kind of title is this for a Tidbit?  You’re probably asking yourself this question as you are reading today’s devotional.  You’re probably wondering also if I’ve lost all touch with reality or if my ability to select titles has fallen by the wayside.  Well, I was just as shocked by the title when I selected this topic as you were when you first saw it.  But if you continue reading, I think you’ll understand exactly what this title has to do with the way we maintain our relationship to God.

One afternoon I was faced with the dilemma of what to have for lunch.  I wasn’t in the mood for a sandwich, I didn’t’ feel like hauling out the pots and pans for a four course meal, and the prospect of cleaning up a load of dishes wasn’t going to be the highlight of my day.  So as I closed the pantry door and walked over to the refrigerator, I decided to look in the freezer to se what delectable morsels might be hiding there.  Inside, I found several kinds of frozen meats, some frozen vegetables, some cheese, and butter that I keep for those times when the mood to bake strikes me.  I didn’t really see anything appealing until I started closing the door.  Right beside a bag of frozen peas sat two servings of spaghetti casserole I made a few weeks prior.

That was the ticket!  I pulled one of the servings out, removed it from its vacuum-sealed container, put it into a large bowl, popped it into the microwave, and proceeded to program the oven.  I decided to use the defrost setting to thaw the casserole before it actually cooked.  I programmed the microwave to defrost for six minutes and then to cook for another three. 

As soon as the oven began running this program, I noticed something very interesting.  At even intervals, the oven made a low-pitched noise which lasted only a few seconds.  The noise would then stop for another interval, somewhat longer than the first, and the low-pitched sound would begin again.

Intrigued and having nothing better to do while I waited on lunch, I decided to see if there was any method in the madness.  Low and behold there was!  The low-pitched noise lasted for exactly five seconds while the oven’s regular sound lasted for ten seconds.  The low-pitched sound, I surmised was the time when the oven was actually bombarding the casserole with microwaves, slowly defrosting the spaghetti dish.  The oven didn’t hit the pasta all at once but gradually bombarded it over time.  The effects were very visible as the spaghetti dish changed from a block of ice to a nice serving for my lunch.  I watched as the spaghetti softened and finally slid into the bowl, taking on its shape. 

The spaghetti was completely defrosted at the end of the six minutes.  That’s when the remaining portion of the program kicked in and the casserole cooked on high for the next three minutes.  The oven bombarded the dish with a constant stream of microwaves, heating the casserole to the proper temperature in only half the time required to defrost it.  When it was over, I pulled the bowl out of the microwave and had lunch.  What started out cold, hard, and inedible, was now piping hot and ready for my mouth!

So what does all of this have to do with a small verse from Exodus 8?  Plenty!  Let’s take a look at Exodus 8:15 and get a real feel for what is being said in this small verse, “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.”  That’s right, we find ourselves in Egypt, in Pharaoh’s throne room right after the plague of flies.  As long as the flies were in the land, Pharaoh’s heart was softened, but as soon as they left, it became hard again.  Please notice that it is Pharaoh, himself, who causes this to happen.

Pharaoh and his kingdom were bombarded with ten different plagues.  After each one, Pharaoh had an opportunity to release the Israelites.  Just like the defrosting cycle of the microwave, he was hit for a brief period of time and then the pressure was removed.  During the plagues, Pharaoh’s heart grew soft, just like that spaghetti.  However, when the plague passed, his heart grew hard and stubborn once again.  For every opportunity he had to obey the Lord, Pharaoh chose not to.  In the end, his heart was hard, cold, and unchanging.  Like the pasta I removed form the microwave, Pharaoh’s heart was totally changed and in a different form.

The spaghetti, however, went from cold to hot. Pharaoh, however, went from warm to frozen solid. 

Our walk with the Lord can be much the same way.  It is so easy to get away from our daily walk with Him.  We are so easily lured off the path by things that bombard us in such a slight way that we barely notice them.  Slowly but surely, we become changed by the world around us until we find ourselves and our relationships with God drastically changed.  Five seconds here and five seconds there, interspersed with ten-second intervals can do a lot of damage if we don’t keep a diligent watch on our walk with God.

I am not writing this to suggest we can lose our salvation or that we can take ourselves out of God’s hand.  The Scriptures, I believe, teach just the opposite. However, we can wonder away from God to such an extent that we become numb to His warming presence in our lives.  The writer of Psalm 95: 8-11 reminds his readers of this very fact, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways." So I declared on oath in my anger, "They shall never enter my rest."

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oday as you hear God’s voice calling you, please hearken to it.  Do not harden your heart or turn away from Him.  Don’t’ let five seconds of the world’s bombardment affect your relationship with God.  Remember five seconds every ten seconds will eventually cook your goose!  Have a great day in the Lord today!