Marshmallow Creme

When you are served an entrée at a restaurant or fast-food location, the food never looks as good as their marketing graphics. It’s amazing how tempting a photo of a hamburger can look on a TV commercial or poster in the restaurant, and then you get a soggy sandwich or the mustard is in one spot on the edge of the bun or the lettuce is wilted and the tomato looks like it was a reject for canned tomatoes.

Recently, I was in southern California on business. After lunch the person I was meeting with suggested that we have dessert at a dessert shop just a couple of doors away. Their menu had huge photos of their offerings. I love hot fudge sundaes, and theirs looked like a work of art. My colleague decided to order the same sundae.

When our order was delivered to the table, it was indeed a work of art. Marshmallow creme was running down the side of the fancy glass dish (it appeared to be whipped cream in the glossy photo on the menu). Hot fudge was also running over the side of the glass. Sliced, toasted almonds were liberally sprinkled on the top. It looked delicious!

There was so much melted marshmallow creme that I scraped some of it away to get to the hot fudge and ice cream. What a bummer—there was only one dip of partially melted ice cream and about a tablespoon of hot fudge in this $10 dessert. Apparently, marshmallow creme is much less expensive than ice cream and hot fudge!

This morning I was reading in Nahum about Nineveh, “the beautiful and faithless city, mistress of deadly charms” (Nahum 3:4). Nineveh had charmed other nations with its beauty, fame, and strength. She had seduced them into phony friendships like a harlot. Assyria then destroyed and pillaged the other countries when they were at ease and believed Assyria to be a friend. On the exterior, Nineveh was stunning and majestic, but on the inside, it was cruel and dishonest. Sometimes seduction and death are hidden behind beautiful façades.

Nineveh reminds me of Satan. He uses his guiles to tempt us. He uses marshmallow creme to attract us to actions that we regret once we scrap off the sugar coating. He causes us to invest time and other resources in his plans for us until we are so deep into something that we don’t know how to escape. But God is always there waiting for us to realize our mistakes and turn our face once again to Him, the loving, forgiving, patient Father of the universe. Thank you, Lord, for your long-suffering and your understanding of your humble creations.