The Divine Garbage Dumpster

My garbage bin has become a source of worship. Every Wednesday evening, I roll the garbage bin to the road so that the sanitation workers can drive by on Thursday morning and take away the collection of discarded items, rubbish, and things that we no longer want.

I ran across a fantastic verse in 1 Samuel, where Hannah, after many years of sorrow because she could not have children, finally gave birth to the eventual prophet, Samuel. When she does, she burst forth in song. 1 Samuel 2:8 (NLT) contains one verse of her song. She sang, “He lifts the poor from the dust,” and get this, “the needy from the garbage dump.”

No disrespect intended, but I love the thought that God, the God who created the universe, the God who created everything, is a Divine dumpster diver. He dives into the garbage dump of life for you and me. The world would willingly and easily discard us because of our failures and struggles. But when everyone else would discard us and leave us in the garbage dump, like a prodigal in the pigpen with the muck and the mire of life, the Father ran down the road of our country to rescue us from the garbage of our lives.

So the next time you’re pushing your garbage to the road, let me encourage you to let it be a cue to worship God's amazing love and willingness to rescue you in this life.

Duke Stone
After 40 years in full-time ministry, I try to see how the little things in life speak big things about God. This blog is an attempt to share with you the many ways I see the love of God in the ordinary things of life.