God's Varied Approaches to Loving Us
Dirt, Rocks and Stars Telling Stories
God’s revelation of Himself is the most loving gift we have or will ever receive and one of the coolest things about how He has revealed Himself is that He has woven His revelation of Himself into all of creation. All creation sings of His glory and points to His greatness. The stars in the sky, the air we breath, the food we eat and even the dirt beneath our feet tell stories of God’s goodness, grace, character and power. Isaiah helps us see one of these stories as he considers the relationship between the farmer and the ground that he works.
Isaiah 28:23-29
[23] Give ear, and hear my voice; give attention, and hear my speech. [24] Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground? [25] When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and emmer as the border? [26] For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him. [27] Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod. [28] Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it. [29] This also comes from the LORD of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.
God’s Varied Approaches to Loving Us
What Isaiah shows us is that just as a field requires different approaches in different seasons, we too need God to pursue us differently in various seasons of our lives.
- At times we need God to bring the plow of suffering and trails to open up the ground of our hearts so we are ready for the seed of His word to be implanted and take root.
- At others times we need the nourishment of water and sunlight as God feeds us through His word and worship and graces us with other believers to encourage us in our walks with Christ.
- Yet at other times He is pruning us by cutting away sinful and dangerous habits that threaten our health.
- Finally, we see Him bringing in the harvest of fruit that He brought about through us as we live out our faith.
Wonderful in Counsel and Excellent in Wisdom
As we consider how God tailors His work to who we are and the situations we find ourselves in we are left praising God the same way Isaiah did, when he said, “(God) is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom” (vs. 29). While the goal of God’s work in us is always the same (His glory through the fruit of Christlikeness in us) His methods lovingly adapt to give us exactly what we need.
How is God Working on You?
How is God working on you right now? Has He brought the plow of suffering to open up your heart to His Word and grace? Is He working to grow you and strengthen you through His Word, the sharpening of other believers, quiet moments of worship, or reliant prayer? Where is God pruning in your life to remove cancerous habits or qualities that lure us away from Christ? What fruit is God harvesting in your life from the way you have lived out your faith?
The reality is that God is at work in your life in a myriad of ways at once. The big question is, are we in tune to them so that we can pursue the growth that He is working to bring about? May we embrace God’s pursuit of us and the variety of ways that He comes to us to help us find our fullest joy in Jesus.
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