Have you ever broken a mercury thermometer? How did you clean up the slippery, silver balls of mercury? I recently ventured the cleanup of a hazardous material spill in my kitchen. My thermometer had fallen and broken on the dark linoleum floor, spilling the mercury which dispersed into little rolling beads. Not being a chemist, I commenced to pick up the mess. The glass was no problem, but the mercury kept running away from my bare fingers. This was all happening at five in the morning, so you can understand my frame of mind, especially when it dawned on me that mercury was a toxic substance! Oh, no! I tried a moistened paper towel and still the laughing balls were rolling around.
I finally asked the Lord how He would clean up a mercury mess, and duct tape came to mind. The defeated, silvery balls began sticking to the tape, and I happily disposed of them. Not quite sure the cleanup was a success, I checked online and found out duct tape was the answer. What a personal God I have! I should have kept praying, since I also learned that I was supposed to wear rubber gloves, open the windows, and turn on the exhaust fan because mercury is easily absorbed through the skin and ingested by breathing the vapors. Next time, I will be ready.
As a final precaution, the article I was reading suggested shining a flashlight in the dark at floorlevel to find any mercury beads secretly hiding. As I shone my light, its reflection illuminated the surprised culprits. They reminded me of secret sins crouching in the dark places of one’s heart, hiding from the light of God’s countenance. These overlooked hidden sins could be discontentment, worry, or an unforgiving or critical spirit. I do not want toxic wastes piling up in my heart. Do you? Leave the cleanup of hazardous spills to the Lord. No toxins are safely hidden in the light of His countenance!
“Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.” Psalm 90:8
