Bury Your Poop

My worship team leader group texted us yesterday.

I’m wondering if there are any specific scriptures that you guys would want included in the service. I have a few in mind but I was wondering if God has placed anything on your hearts lately that you want to share.

We’re currently preparing for a New Year's Eve worship night. Two hours of praising God on December 31st, leading up to midnight when the calendar switches over. Rockin’ in the new year. Great idea, and I was thrilled to be part of the worship team. 

As you might expect, two hours is a long time to sing songs, so my leader thought some scripture readings would be nice. He’s so thoughtful. 

However, instead of suggesting a warm, fuzzy Bible verse that had been speaking to my heart, I replied with the silliest passage I could think of:

Deut 23:13

“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.”

Is there a gentle hymn that might go along with this?

As planned, I hit their funny bones. Laughs all round. Poop emojis littered the group text. My worship leader jokingly threatened to kick me off the team. 

However, later that evening I read further in Deuteronomy 23 and realized there’s more to that passage than bathroom humor. The next verse says it all:

Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you. (Deut 23:14)

It’s easy to forget that God walks among us. He isn’t visible these days like he was In the garden of Eden (Gen 3:8), but he’s here nonetheless. God walks around our home, roams the corridors of our workplace and school, and sees everything we do in secret (Mt 6:4). It’s no stretch to think that perhaps he doesn’t always like what he sees. That’s because we all have poop in our lives. 

What better time than the beginning of a new year to bury everything that’s stinking up our lives. 

• toxic thought patterns

• gossip

• bitterness, unforgiveness

• bad habits

• selfish pride

• [fill in the blank]: _________

Nobody likes stepping in poo. Jesus shouldn’t have to muck through our nasty mess when he graces us with his presence. Furthermore, he has given us the tools to deal with our sin. Moses tells us in Deuteronomy that every soldier must carry his trowel. The Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians that every believer must carry a hammer and nails.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Gal 5:24)

None of us are perfect. We all have sin, which must be dealt with promptly. Humility and repentance are needed to keep from stinking up our hearts again. We must “have a trowel with [our] tools” to deal with our spiritual poop. We need to crucify our sinful nature every day and bury it. This needs to happen right away, before it messes up our lives even more than it already has.

This coming year, make sure our spiritual lives are somewhere the Lord enjoys walking in, lest we stink things up so bad that he doesn’t come around anymore (“that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you”).

Well, it looks like the Bible was right again: all scripture is useful "for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Tim 3:16), even a funny verse in Deuteronomy about burying poop. Maybe I will share it on New Year's Eve after all. 

That is, if the worship leader doesn't fire me first. 

© D. B. Ryen Incorporated, December 2024.

All Scripture quotations are from The English Standard Bible (ESV). Crossway, 2001.