Every marinade has some sort of vinegar in it.
When I make bison or beef kebabs, I reach for the Worcestershire sauce. For beef roasts, it’s the red wine vinegar. Apple cider vinegar does the trick for pork or chicken.
The vinegar breaks down the outer proteins of the meat, allowing the seasonings and flavor to soak deep into the filet or roast.
As I made kebabs this week, I was marinating in the Psalms. I read Psalm 109 in the morning, but by the time I was preparing supper, I still was thinking about it, letting it marinate my brain.
The word of God has a little vinegar in it. Psalm 109 is the one that says about an enemy, “May his children be fatherless and his wife be a widow.” That’s acidic.
However, before he becomes too imprecatory, the Psalmist writes, “In return for my love, they accuse me, but I am prayer.”
The difficulty in his life led him to turn his whole self into a prayer.
Adversity mingled with the Word marinating him like vinegar, opening his heart and mind to the intervention and truth of God.
I don’t have an enemy like the Psalmist did, but marinating in His words causes me to ask, “Am I prayer?”
When I am poor and needy (all the time, really), do I cry out to God? Or do I simply cry out, as one who has been stung but is not willing to seek help to remove the stinger? Am I prayer? Or am I complaint?
The proof is in the brisket.
The results show whether or not the marinade has done its work. If adversity and the word have done their work in my heart, the result is Christlikeness. If I marinate long enough in His word and His presence, I will be completely saturated with His goodness and gentleness. The fruit of the Spirit will be evident.
The opposite is also true. The more I marinate in the things of this world, the less Christilike I am and the more selfish.
I spend a lot of time with small children. There is a noticeable difference between prayer and complaint in them. When a small child comes to me with a need he knows he cannot meet himself, he pleads and yearns and longs for help. He has become prayer.
When a child comes with complaint, he demands to have what he sees as rightfully his. I am simply an obstacle to satisfaction.
I ran out of balloons the other night as I was making balloon animals for a group of children. There were tears. However, there was a real difference in the tears of the child pleading and the tears of the child demanding.
When we marinate in the Word, He transforms us into prayer, people poor and needy for more of Him.
When we marinate in the world, it transforms us into complaint, people selfish and demanding for more of anything we think we deserve.
So, what marinade will you choose?
