This week I watched a sermon on You Tube by Pastor Steven Furtick from Elevation Church. I believe it was titled, “Let the dirt do its work”. I’m not going to try to share that message with you in this blog post (even if I had the ability), but there were a few nuggets that touched my heart and I will share those with you.
He admitted that two years ago he preached on the same parable (Mark 4:26-29) and now he has a new revelation about it and he thinks he got it wrong back then. How many times have you read a very familiar passage of scripture and suddenly see it from a different angle? I sure have. I suspect that someone two years ago needed to hear that other version, but now his congregation is ready for this new view. At least I’ve found it that way; God’s word gives me what I need at the time I read it.
This parable is about a farmer who sows the seeds in good soil. Then the seeds sprout and grow on their own while the farmer is sleeping or doing other things. The farmer doesn’t know how the seeds become a crop ready for him to harvest. He only knows what he needs to do and allows the seeds and dirt to do the rest.
I wrote a couple of years ago about asking God the wrong question. We always concentrate on learning WHY something bad happens to us instead of asking WHAT we need to do about it. I mentioned then that my top secret clearance while I was in the Air Force only allowed me to view documents when I had the “need to know”. It turns out HOW my actions work to produce the desired result in someone else’s life is something else I don’t have the need to know. I sow the seeds of encouragement, love and kindness but I never know HOW they will sprout and produce fruit in their life. God, through His Holy Spirit, tells me WHAT I should write on my blog but I never know HOW those words turn into a harvest for someone to reap. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not complaining. Obedience to God has its own great rewards.
The next time you are going through an unexpected storm in your life and you don’t know HOW you will ever get through it, just ask God WHAT you need to do. You don’t have to know HOW it will work out as long as you know WHO does know. He will not only plan your escape, He will go through it all with you.