My church has a co-op "farm", really more of a large (1 acre?) garden that I work at as much as I can during the planting/growing/harvesting season and one of the chores is rock picking. Because the soil in our area is so rocky, every year and all season long, we are continually 'picking rocks' out of the growing areas. Why? Because crops grow better without rocks in the way of their roots.
Just like Jesus said.
Mark 4:18-19 (emphasis mine), "Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear The Word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke The Word making it unfruitful."
Oh man. I just got this in a whole new way today.
Tying in some other verses:
Matthew 6:25-34, (emphasis mine) "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear....Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?...And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field...will he not much more clothe you- YOU OF LITTLE FAITH? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. BUT seek first HIS kingdom and HIS righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
SO, if I'm not supposed to worry about tomorrow and the "worries of this life" and do so anyway, I am the rocky soil. AND The Word will be unfruitful in my life. Creating a vicious cycle where I then worry even more.
I've been so worried lately. And this is not my normal state. I'm usually really good at letting go, trusting God, etc. But with Baby #2 almost here and no idea how we're going to survive financially- I've been worried. And I can almost guarantee that this is where my insane nesting urges are coming from- at least in part. If I can't control the money at least I can control the meals in my freezer. Makes sense, right? Except I'm not sleeping and when I am, my sleep is very disturbed by dreams. Many of which are easy to to "interpret" as me working through my worries while trying to rest.
I need to go ROCK PICKING in my heart and mind!! What rocks, (worries of this life, deceitfulness of wealth, and desires for other things) am I letting lay in my soil...and hinder the fruit I'm so desperately praying for.
And I truly believe I have the power to get rid of some of these rocks! Why? Because 2 Corinthians 10 (and other verses) tell me I do.
"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10: 4-5
How about you? How is your soil? Your heart? What rocks do you need to pick?
Love this Sarah, you stated it so well. Amazing how we can get so caught up in the humon stuff and forget God is right there ready to take all that away and lend a hand. I rely on this scripture; Pr 3:5 Trust in the LORD e with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
ReplyDeletePr 3:6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths f straight. g
Even though I rely on this, i too get caught up sometimes with MY ideas not His. And the next thing ya know I'm pushing a really big rock up a hill that is impossible to reach or will take so much effort and resources on my part I leave all my real faith walk and go it alone. My big clue the last time this happened which by the way was a little over a week ago, I found myself in a discussion with trusted sistes, I had this thing I keep trying to make happen, and for whatever reason inside of me I'm still trying to make it happen even though previous attempts have failed too. So I think i finally have it figured out, right? Nope, met up with complete opposition for real. Took me a while to finally here the voice the Holy Spirit saying let it go it is not for you to worry about, your Rock is your rock not Gods. Ok then, that was it. and I mean IT!!! within a few moments i realized this was not God's plan but mine completely. Lesson learned was, If I find myself pushing a rock up a hill it is most likely my rock not gods. For every time in the past he has given me a project or job whatever you want to call it. And I on faith respond yes, then he immediately places the path in front of me that will help make it so. No rock pushing at all. He never leaves me, he never ask me to do something I cannot do, (even if I have my own doubts about that) he proves me wrong. So, realizing where your at now is so exciting and how the whole rock picking thing entered in makes my heart grow. First Fruits is part of the God in the Dirt Ministry where we are going to encounter rocks, weeds, uneven ground, unfertile soil, until we acknowledge it is all God's and he has invited us in on the adventure, not the other way around. :)) Love you tons