“The greedy stir up conflict, but those who trust in the Lord will prosper.”
Proverbs 28: 25
How much do you trust in the Lord? This seemed to be the theme for my life this past weekend and I’m still living it now. There is something big God is planning, and when He presented the next step to me a few weeks ago it terrified me. I kept asking myself how can I make it? How can I survive? Thus, for weeks I’ve been pushing it off thinking maybe this was an idea from my flesh and not something spoken to my spirit.
Then this past Saturday I once again took a look at my weekly schedule and became frustrated. There are so many things booked throughout my weeks that I don’t feel as if there is enough time to focus on what God is calling me to focus on. A couple of Wednesdays ago our Bible Study group was in the midst of a Beth Moore series we were studying when she made the comment in one of her videos that she eventually reached a point in her life upon finding her calling that she had to make a decision: focus on what she already had going on or focus on what God wanted for her life. She dropped everything and took care of only two things: her family and the ministry God was giving her.
I’m not saying we do the same by dropping everything right now. There is a waiting period between being newly saved and being given the calling God wants you to have. During that waiting period we need to be serving as best as we can in our church, our community, our work, and our family. It is during this waiting period we show our loyalty by glorifying Him in all we are involved in and waiting patiently. It is during this period that we also grow into what we need to be so we are ready to embrace the first step of the adventure. When that moment comes, when the adventure is to begin, God will let us know and, if we ask for it in prayer, He will give us the determination to do it.
Going back to what Beth Moore was saying, it clicked with me that night. However, I didn’t know how I could do what she had accomplished. It was one of those situations where it was easier said than done. Thus, again, I pushed it off…until this weekend. Saturday it all clicked into place that I needed to stop holding back. God had me outside of the waiting period and was telling me ‘let’s go’, but I was hesitating. On Sunday our pastor preached on Luke 9:57-62. He said the men that Jesus called out to and asked them to follow all had an excuse not to go or to hesitate. He continued, saying if we are called by God we can’t wait for it to be convenient for us, for if we do the time of opportunity will pass and we will miss out on the blessings God had in store.
I was waiting for the convenient moment to take the plunge off the metaphorical cliff, the one that God was telling me He’d catch me when I fell off it. God was asking me to trust Him, but I had to take a leap of faith. This morning He gave me two verses to reaffirm that: Proverbs 28:26 was given during my daily quiet time and James 4:7 was the verse of the day on the YouVersion Bible App.
So I’ve decided to dive right in, starting today. The thing is, it is moments like these where we need to decided what kind of seed we want to be in our hearts. If you’ve read the Gospels you’ll recall the story of the four seeds.
“‘A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.’ When he said this, he called out, ‘Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear’. “
“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seeds on good soil stands for those with noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”
Luke 8:5-8, 11-15
I don’t know about you, but I want that last seed to be the one that is in my heart. I love listening to the Word of God, I love studying it. The Word of God is living water, and the more we dig our roots into the soil the more we can drink that water, the more we thrive. We can’t hesitate or wait until it’s convenient to study the Word of God if we want to draw closer to Him, if we want to see what purpose He has for our lives and why He created us. We have to get dirty, we’re going to get tired, but in the end it’ll be worth it! Isn’t that what gardening is? You dig in the dirt, plant something you know will be beautiful, and you take joy in watching it grow. God does that very same thing with the seeds of faith.
Yet, we have to be willing to put some effort into it. God gave us free will and He isn’t about to take it away to force us to grow. Just like plants need time to sprout from seeds and trees time to grow bark when their large enough, we too need time to grow in God’s Word. But if we don’t study the Bible how do we ever think we can grow spiritually? It may be hard at first to develop a routine or a study habit, but it’s oh so worth it!
So dig down deep until you’re knuckles and elbows in the word, then apply it to your life and share it with others by growing good fruit. Do what you can while you can as you wait for God to say go. Then when He does, take off! Go on an adventure with Him and trust Him every step of the way. As the scripture at the top reminds us, the greedy will never be satisfied and will always seek to gain something for themselves, even if it means wrongs someone else. However, “those who trust in the Lord will prosper”.
“Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
John 7:38
Not the Norm 