The Stench

The article made me sick as I read it.
I could not imagine what the people must have been going through.
Initial reports said that the problem affected 200 homes.
Most recent reports said that 80 homes were affected.

The problem was caused by something that many do without even thinking.
The problem happened right after Thanksgiving.
It is believed that cooking grease, poured down the drain, caused the problem.
The cooking grease caused a blockage in a major pipe in the Queens section of New York.

The major pipe, that carries sewage from the neighborhood to a treatment center, was clogged.
The blocked pipe sent sewage flooding into homes on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
The sewage started backing up into the basements around 1 a.m. on Saturday.
By late morning, the wastewater was several feet deep.

The smell was horrific.
Homeowners hoped that they will not get sick as a result of the sewage in their basements.
Sump pumps were not working fast enough.
The city workers were using pressure hoses and vacuum trucks to assist the homeowners.

The cause of the blockage is still under investigation.
It is believed the cooking grease congealed in the sewer line because of the cold weather.
The flooding occurred in homes with toilets in their basements; those without were unaffected.
People were told to ventilate their homes, which was difficult during a rain and sleet storm.

I literally felt sick as I read the news reports.
I can only imagine the odor.
I can only imagine the frustration as basements were filled with raw sewage.
So many of their belongings were ruined.

As the salt flavors every drop in the Atlantic, so does sin affect every atom of our nature. It is so sadly there, so abundantly there, that if you cannot detect it, you are deceived.

I thought of a quote by Charles Spurgeon.
I thought about the fact that sin is so abundantly present in our lives.
I thought about the fact that often, sin goes undetected.
Sin will go unnoticed until it smells too bad to disregard any longer.

This world reeks of troubles and sorrows. Sometimes we are innocent victims of other people’s sin and sometimes we are willing participants who cause trouble all our own. At other times we are simply caught up in the stink of a sinful world. In any case, we are regularly called upon to respond to situations that are difficult or even excruciating…The problem with sin is that it is too dreadful, too ugly, too pernicious to allow solutions that are perfectly clean and neat. Instead, a stink lingers in the aftermath of any great sin…Sadly, there will always be little messes in the wake of big messes, little hurts in the wake of big hurts, unanswered questions in the wake of attempted solutions. Where there is great sin, there will be great stink. We ought to labor to find the best possible solutions, to bring the deepest and truest healing. But we simply can’t expect there will be perfect solutions to messy problems. Not on this side of heaven, at least. The stink of sin always lingers.
(https://www.challies.com/articles/the-lingering-stench-of-sin/)

Sin stinks.
The stink of sin always lingers.
We may think we are covering up our sin, but one day, one mishap, one blockage…
The smell of our sin will be too awful to hide.

The sin that is bubbling over in all the places it should not be, will be evident to all.
No amount of pumping or bucket carrying will remove the stench.
Nothing will clean up the mess sufficiently.
Nothing but God.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. BUT because of his great love for us, GOD, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.(Ephesians 2:1-9, emphasis mine)

But God.
God made us alive in Christ, when we were dead in the stink of our sin.
Only God can remove our sin.
Our sin was placed on Jesus on the cross.

No amount of cleanup could remove our sin.
Our sin had to be dealt with permanently.
Jesus took the stench of our sin on Himself.
Jesus smelled bad so that we could smell good to God the Father.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for taking our smelly sin on Yourself.
Thank you, that in You, we now have the sweet aroma of forgiveness.
Salvation smells sweet.
Oh, what a Savior.