07/22/2018
Do you complain to God during the times of hardship in your life, or cry out in anguish to Him in the times of pain and suffering as if they were meant to punish you? Perhaps we need to take a lesson from the fruit bearing trees and vines that grow gangly unattended, and don’t produce fruit in quality or quantity. The times we find the hardest are those that benefit us the most.
“Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”
John 15:2 ESV
I come from a line of farmers, and by that association I know how to plant and tend food crops, but I have also learned a great deal about tending to trees and vines as well. Getting the most out of your field, your orchard, and your vineyard isn’t a nicety for a farming family, it can often mean the difference between health, and starvation. The Bible speaks often about bringing our harvest into the storehouse. For these biblical families there was no luxury of a grocery store, or a Super Walmart, and what they didn’t have stored for the lean months meant doing without, and possibly death. Listen to the story of Joseph, and the storehouses he filled...
“So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.”
Genesis 41:56 ESV
We are expected to prepare for the hard times in life, and God does the same with us spiritually for those challenging times in our faith as well. So just as a farmer prunes his trees and vines, and replaces those unproductive plants with others that produce a bounty, so God tends to us. In this way He fills His storehouses, and brings us to an increase in health.
There are a couple of truths about rain and drought. The first is that regular seasons of both make trees, or crops, healthy... it causes them to put down roots when the rain stops, as they follow the water deeper into the ground. In this way when the rain returns they are prepared to soak up even more nourishment than during the last rainy season. A good balance of rain and drought is what God seeks in our lives... we call them good times, and bad, but together they nourish us.
The second truth I would like to share is this... too much rain causes trees to fall, and crops to rot in the field. When the ground is constantly wet plants don’t send down deep roots, and when a hard rain comes in a flood, it loosens the soil around the trees so that with fewer deep roots they are toppled by the slightest wind. We all dream of living in constant sunshine with plenty of water, but if that were so, then, although our leaves and fruit might flourish for a time, we would never be strengthened against calamity, or hardship, and crops would find that their roots would either rot in the ground, or that they would wither in the hot sun. These are truths that every farmer knows.
City folks think that all farmers pray for sunshine, and that is so to s degree because it helps them plant and harvest, but most of all they pray for just the right balance of rain, and sun. One or the other is disastrous if received alone.
This is our life, and our faith. The pain, suffering, and calamity cause us to reach our roots out to God in search of salvation, relief, and nourishment, but the good times of plenty give us time to grow, bear fruit, and stock the storehouses with our harvest. Is your life in balance? Are you experiencing the good and the bad, the hard and the easy, and sickness in measure with health? This is the way of nature, life, and spirituality as well. The tough times make us stronger so that in times of plenty our bounty will be great. Without this balance trees grow tall, but shallow rooted, and plants have weak stalks that find it hard to hold their fruit. God prepares us throughout our lives so that we will be healthy, and the times we tend to bemoan and complain about the most are those of greatest benefit. Put away your harvest in storehouses so that in the times of drought you might find strength and sustenance. Let our hardships strengthen us in times of plenty.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for all of the times of sunshine and plenty in my life, but I also thank you Merciful Father for the hard times I face, and the strength you build in me during them. Harden me against sin and temptation Lord, and send my roots of faith deep into your Word. Help me as I plant, and harvest; show me the necessity of storehouses that will sustain me when the storms of faith come upon me. Teach me to put the bounty of my faithfulness in heavenly stores so that I will look to you in such times of trial. Prune me to make me branch out in luxurious manner; producing much fruit. Cut back my branches, and pinch off the unnecessary sprouts from my stem to maintain my health, and make my produce sweet and good. You are the Great Farmer of my soul, the Good Shepherd of the flock I am in, and the Wise and Fair Minder of my storehouses. Gracious Father keep balance in me, and bring forth the bounty of your work as I grow and do your will. Help me to hold my tongue, and not complain when you tend to me, but show me the purpose in my life that only you see fully, and that you are ever guiding me towards. Great are you the Master of my Fields, and Holy, Holy, Holy, are you the horticulturist of souls. Plentiful will be your harvest, and full your storehouses.
“The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them,”
Deuteronomy 28:12-13 ESV
Rich Forbes