Getting Our Hands Dirty

Within the past month, I had a situation where I was praying for direction and, honestly, asking God why He wasn’t being more active in this place for me. After presenting my case, He spoke these words: “Why do you expect such a large crop in an area where you sow the least?”

Now, I don’t typically think in farming terms or in succinct phrases, so I knew it was Him. God—as we read in both the Old Testament and through Christ in the New Testament—always says so much with so few words. It’s like he invented communication or something!

So, I began to apply more time, energy, prayer, and focus on that area. Guess what? I began to see some crop appear in only a couple of days. Here’s some thoughts I’ve come to in the past week from this experience.

So often as guys, from laziness, disobedience, and arrogance, we say that we want to be better husbands, fathers, workers, brothers, sons, church members, and even sons of God, but then we expect a large crop to grow from minimal plowing, planting, watering, and care. We want to read a book, attend a meeting, hear a teaching, pray one prayer, etc., and magically, the crop grows quickly. Microwave Christianity. Now, that can happen at times, but connected to that will be our time and energy being placed onto that area, with the teaching, meeting, or book being the catalyst for our engagement.

My question to you today . . . where are you frustrated that a crop hasn’t or isn’t growing? Take a few minutes to evaluate your own input and focus into that place. Am I, are you, really giving God something to work with? Can a new business be launched while treating it like a hobby? Can a marriage really be renewed and grown on 15 minutes a day? Can a connection be solidified with a child on a 10-minute story and bedtime prayer? Can a godly man be produced from a Sunday morning, a Bible passage, and a hurried prayer of to-do’s and help-me’s?

I am a fellow struggler in this area and working desperately with you to become a better “farmer” through obedience to the Creator of all things, the One Who gave us the desire for the crop in the first place.

 Remember this saying, “A few seeds make a small harvest,
but a lot of seeds make a big harvest.” —2 Corinthians 9:6 CEV