February 2009

Daily Reading

Numbers 17, 18
Psalm 29
Mark 4

Scripture (Okay, it’s a long on this time, but good!)

³ “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seed. ⁴ As he scattered it across his field, some of the seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it. ⁵ Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn’t have deep roots, it died. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants so they produced no grain. ⁸ Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they sprouted, grew, and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” (Mark 4:3-8)

¹⁴ The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others. ¹⁵ The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away. ¹⁶ The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷ But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. ¹⁸ The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, ¹⁹ but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. ²⁰ And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” (Mark 4:14-20)

²⁶ Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷ Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. ²⁸ The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. ²⁹ And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.” (Mark 4:26-29)

Observation

We are farmers.  The seed we plant is the Word of God, the Gospel, the Good News, JESUS!  The soil is human hearts and lives.  How we plant varies based on the gifts God has given us, but it it our duty as members of God’s Kingdom to go and plant.  What happens to the seed once it is planted is GOD’s responsibility.  We don’t need to understand HOW as seed grows, but simply that it does.

Application

I think the point Jesus was trying to make here is that it is not the seed that is important.  We know that if we plant a peach seed, we will get a peach tree.  That is a given.  No need to question it.  The Word of God will produce followers of Christ.  Period.  The End.  So, how come it doesn’t always turn out that way?  It is the SOIL, the condition of our hearts, that determines whether or not the seed will grow and flourish.  The condition of our hearts will not a CHANGE a peach seed into an apple seed.  We are NOT responsible for the seed!  A seed is a seed is a seed.  I think this is where so much of our evangelistic efforts fall short.  We try to CHANGE the message(seed) to make it grow in hearts that are just not ready.  What Jesus is saying is that it is our responsibility to prepare the soil and to NOT plant until it is ready.  There are seasons and conditions that a farmer waits for until he plants.  He doesn’t just get an inkling one day in the middle of winter and say, “Oh my gosh, I didn’t plant my seeds this year, I better go do it.”  He will produce NOTHING and waste his time in the process.  He spends time and effort carefully tilling, weeding, removing rocks, and fertilizing.  Then, when the season is right, he plants, KNOWING that his wheat field will produce wheat and his corn field will produce corn.

The person standing on the street corner with a sign that says “Repent or Burn” is throwing seed around willy nilly hoping some of it will land on good soil.  But, since he has spent no time in preparing any of the soil, he will not know where to go to actually harvest what he has sewn.

A good farmer spends daily time with God and lives a life that represents Jesus.  He has a few fields(people) that he loves and spends time with.    He helps them remove the rocks and weeds from their lives in a way that will not destroy the ground.  He fertilizes by being a living example Christ.  He loves the soil.  He has been so intimately involved in the preparation of the soil that he knows when it is time to plant; when it is time to share the good news of Jesus in a way that it will not be snatched by Satan, or choked out by worries.  He continues to tenderly care for the soil as the seed grows and matures, but DOES NOT TOUCH THE SEED!  Once the seed has grown and has deep roots, there is time for pruning, but that is a whole other issue.  That is not SALVATION, that is GROWTH.

Bottom line:  We are farmers, NOT God.  Our responsibility: the soil.  God’s responsibility: the seed.

Prayer

Lord God, you have placed people in my life that need their soil prepped so they can be ready to receive Your Word.  Teach me how to help those hearts become ready.  Give me discernment to know when they are ready to have the seed planted.  Thank-you.

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Scripture

“But the people defiantly pushed ahead toward the hill country, even though neither Moses nor the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant left the camp.  Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in those hills came down and attacked them and chased them back as far as Hormah.” Numbers 14:44-45 (NLT)

Observation

Reading about how the Israelites acted before God and his anointed is reminiscent of how I acted before my parents, and how my children act before Sheryl and I. Subsequently It’s how we still act before God. It’s a flaw of human nature to constantly want what you cannot have. It’s not until we fix our eyes on what God wants for us that we can walk into the blessings that he has in store.

GOD: “James, if you do XYZ I will give you a piece of cake”
james: “But God, I don’t want to do XYZ”.
GOD: “Okay then take this bran muffin”
james: “But God! I want a piece of cake…even two!”
GOD: “I want you to have a piece of cake…even the entire cake…but you need to do XYZ”
james: “If you loved me enough you would give me a piece of cake”
GOD: “I love you more than you would ever know”
james: “Can I have a couple cakes then? If you loved me then you would give me cakes”
GOD: “I want you to be obedient so that I can bless you. But since you want to be difficult just go to bed with nothing.”
james: “BUT GOD!! I’m hungry, can I have a bran muffin?” [click to continue…]

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Daily Reading (2/23/09)

Numbers 12, 13
Psalm 90
Mark 2

Scripture

⁷ The manna looked like small coriander seeds, and it was pale yellow like gum resin. ⁸ The people would go out and gather it from the ground. They made flour by grinding it with hand mills or pounding it in mortars. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into flat cakes. These cakes tasted like pastries baked with olive oil. (Num 11:6-8) (From yesterday’s reading)

¹⁴ Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love,
so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives. (Psalm 90:14)

Observation

Growing up I always invisioned manna as this flaky, white stuff that magically appeared on the ground and when the people went out each morning it was ready to eat.  But manna had to be gathered AND THEN processed in order for it to become food.  God provided the manna no matter where His people were and in every circumstance, but the people still had to WORK to make it palatable and nutritious.  Lazy, undiciplined people would starve in the presence of abundance.  Wow.

Application

God tells us mulitiple times that He will satisfy us EACH morning.  So, can I just wake up each morning, in the presence of abundance, and say “Okay God, here I am, fill me up!?”  Jesus said that mana was like our spiritual food, provided by God each day.  So, that means that lazy, undiciplined ME will spiritually STARVE unless I take the Word of God and grind it down into a more palatable form.  I must have DICIPLINE.  I’m sure that waking up each morning in order to gather the manna and grind it down and make food from it was A DRAG!  I’m sure they wanted to gather TONS of it and make enough food for the entire week so they could SLEEP IN the next morning!  But God made all of the stored up food ROT and GROW WORMS!  AAAACHHHH!  I guess just because I was able to pull myself out of bed yesterday does not mean that I will be filled today.  Dang it!  I HATE dicipline.  BUT NO WAIT GOD, I’m not complaining!  (Eek, that was close.)

Prayer

Father God, thank-you so much for giving me my daily bread.  I know now that it is not free.  It does come with the price of dicipline.  Teach me to accept the pain of dicipline rather than wait and feel the pain of consequence.   Thank-you for letting me learn from the mistakes of those who have gone before me.  I do want to be filled every morning with your Love.  I want to SING FOR JOY to the end of my days!  Help me be diciplined.  Help me to get up each morning and gather the manna You have freely laid out for me and to have the dicipline to grind it and make it into something nutritious.

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Scripture

“They said, Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he spoken through us, too? “But the Lord heard them. (Now Moses was very humble—more humble than any other person on earth.) So immediately the Lord called to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and said, “Go out to the Tabernacle, all three of you!” So the three of them went to the Tabernacle.  Then the Lord descended in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron and Miriam!” he called, and they stepped forward.  And the Lord said to them, “Now listen to what I say:

“If there were prophets among you,  I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions. I would speak to them in dreams.  But not with my servant Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust. I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles! He sees the Lord as he is. So why were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?”” Numbers 12: 3-8

Observation

I bolded the first portion of the scripture above for one reason: Moses was thought to be the author of the book of Numbers. I know with all of my heart that the bible is the inspired word of God. I still think that it is hilarious that Moses, in all humility, would write that about himself.

Anyways, moving on, Miriam and Aaron up and angered God. It seems as if they were attempting to undermine the authority that God had given Moses. God talked with Moses face to face because he was the one that God trusted. It appears that God was also talking face to face with Miriam and Aaron, the result of which was disastrous.

Application

Don’t place yourself in a position where you are undermining the will of God. If you do you might get leprosy or worse. God has appointed leaders over many things, if we undermine their authority it is also undermining the will of God. God, being all powerful, is in control. Anytime you try to subvert the will of God you are setting yourself up for a fall. Rather, proceed with prayer and thanksgiving for the things that God has given you. God gives authority where he sees fit.

In all humility (Now James Helms was very humble–more humble than any person on earth) take care of those things that God has placed you over and be a good steward. Don’t covet what is not yours and be thankful that you were found fit to serve the Kingdom of God.

Prayer

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to know you more. Please give me the wisdom not to step on your toes and be truly humble and thankful for everything that you have given me.

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