You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it. And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement. Deuteronomy 23:12-13
As we’re building a house, I’m realizing all the cost and work that go into things that I’ve never spent much time thinking about. For instance, there’s a lot of planning, expense, and labor that goes into handling our wastewater and sewage. From the start of the project, even before the concrete was poured, the in-ground pipes had to be laid. The plumbers have been here numerous times during the project, and they’ll be close to the last ones in the house as the toilets are finally installed. When all is said and done, we will have spent a considerable amount of money – well worth it – to handle our waste.
Why am I talking about sewage? My wife will probably ask me the same thing today. She encouraged me to skip today’s passage, but I feel it’s an important concept, one that deserves my attention. In the passage, God commanded his people not to relieve themselves in their camp, but rather, to go outside the camp, using a trowel to bury their waste. For obvious hygienic reasons, they weren’t to use same place where they ate, slept, and lived as their latrine.
We have a crude saying in our family when anyone suggests bringing some garbage into our house. If, for instance, I see an old rain-soaked recliner on someone’s curb and suggest we bring it home, my wife will say – That’s like pooping in your own nest. Like I said, it’s a little crude, and my wife will be unimpressed that I shared it with you, but it’s such a profound illustration that I couldn’t let it go.
I’m often tempted to think that the greatest threats to me and my family are external, but my addiction taught me that most often, our destruction is caused by our own failures – by things we invite into our own lives. When we become enslaved to chemicals, we make ourselves and everyone around us sick. When we indulge in pornography, we pollute our marriages. When we embrace anger, we poison our closest relationships. That’s like pooping in your own nest. Today’s passage communicates a truth that still applies to us. If we want the lives and families which God intends, then we must be careful about what we invite into our homes. Just as we wouldn’t allow raw sewage in our house, we must also guard ourselves against those self-destructive behaviors that would contaminate our lives.