Trying Times Produce Seeds of Hope
How does one come over from the land of darkness into the light of truth? More specifically, how does one turn from living a life of sin and wickedness to living a life of reverence to God? So many people do not know God therefore they do not understand what it means to live a life that God commands us to live. Some are even intimidated by the term “command.” That means you should do certain things and you should not do other things. The first and the greatest of all of God’s commandments is to love. “You should love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and all your soul, and with all of your mind,” Christ said that this was the greatest of all of our Father’s commandments. He also said that the second one was also likened to the first.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22: 37–40
Again if you do not know God, you will not recognize His son so that would be like a stranger telling you to do something that you most certainly would reject doing.
Why do you suppose there are so many millions of people from all around the world that accept this notion of God? If you take into account the past, the present, and the future; who knows how many untold billions of people have or will gravitate towards God? As unbelievable as God might be to unbelievers, He is very believable to those who accept Him and follow His basic commands. Although this alone is not proof of anything, it certainly should make one inquire, “what is it that they know that I don’t?” This basic inquiry would be the initial seed that could grow into full-blown faith in God.
I was raised as a child to accept the notion of God. We were taught about God. The Holy Scriptures were both read to us and explained to us as we were children. For me and many of my family members as well as so many others along with their families, we did not have to discover God alone. There was someone there to plant the initial seed, water it, and then they cultivated it until that initial seed grew into faith. That is not true of everyone alike.
Some people are raised in environments that are completely void of godly teachings so it would appear to us that there is something unequal about being properly introduced to God in order that one could make an informed decision as to whether or not to accept Him. Even to make such an assumption as this would lean toward trying to figure out the mind of God. Why does He do the things He does in the manner in which He does them? We can’t assume to even guess the mind of God. That would be a very wrong assumption.
As an example let’s use the skill of a gardener. Although many of you are totally unfamiliar with how gardeners do things, this example should be easily understood. If you had a hand full of mustard seeds that you wanted to grow, there are several steps to follow if you want to harvest a great crop. For example, if you sowed your seeds in a patch of ground where there were already weeds and bushes growing, the seeds would have a hard time trying to grow. It would be best to first turn over the topsoil and rid as many weeds as possible so you would start with good fertile ground. In this way, the new mustard seeds would not have to compete with weeds and bushes in order to start growing. So if you were the gardener and you wanted to grow some mustards the first thing that you might consider is cleaning off the batch of ground where you hoped to plant your seeds. It might also help if you pick a batch of ground that was not full of rocks and stones that would also inhibit the tiny mustard seeds from growing.
Now you, being the gardener, after going through a few steps to give your seeds the best chance of growing healthy, should also nurture your seeds and care for them until they take root. This will allow them to grow up and produce a good crop worthy of consumption. Even without any knowledge of gardening, you can see how important it is to have certain conditions met if you wanted to produce a great crop. Yes, it is possible that you might accidentally get a few healthy mustard plants from the infertile ground, but to get the best crop certain things would be required.
Now imagine that God is the Master Gardener of all things on the earth and He wants to achieve the best possible crop for consumption. As the Master Gardener and the Maker of all things God most certainly knows every detail about how to produce great crops. Mortals do not need to tell God how to do things. If God allows seeds to fall into rocky places where they have no chance of growing there has to be a reason why God would allow such a thing. Even though it does not make sense to us and we are not even master gardeners, our logic and human intellect tell us that there is more to nurturing crop than meets the eye, especially when it comes to nurturing immortal souls.
God knows what each of His created souls require. Therefore He allows certain ones to fall onto the ground where the highest amount of growth is made possible. We have to realize that it is God’s responsibility to nurture His immortal souls and harvest them back into the barn when the harvest fields are completed. Forgive my use of agricultural language that may be foreign to some of you. However, to those the Spirit is reaching to at this moment, this message will be very clear.
Some seeds that fall into very unsuitable places need to overcome tough hurdles in order to make them eventually grow into something worthy or harvesting. There are some people that have to go through tough and trying times in order for them to even open themselves to the possibility of getting to know God. If we were gods and had the ability to create mustard seeds, we would also know what it would take for each of our seeds to produce the best possible crops. But we are not gods and do not have the ability to make a seed. Therefore we must rely upon the One that has such abilities. That would seem to place us back between a rock and a hard place if we do not know God.
Unbeknownst to us, God has all knowledge to the most finite of details of all things. Even though things might appear unfair or unequal to our mortal eyes, God is looking at things through eternal eyes. He knows each seed to the completeness and what each of them needs. For some, trying times must produce a desire that leads to their willingness to ask for help. That inquiry creates humility in order that one can open their hearts in order to receive guidance. Once hope is present then a multitude of things become possible where it was not beforehand. God is completely aware of all these subtleties and possibilities that we can’t even phantom.
The Master Gardener knows how to cultivate His immortal souls. Beyond our human aspirations and hopes, we have to learn to trust in His judgments. Perhaps this is why our Lord said that the first and greatest of all the commandments was to love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. We must place our trust in the Lord God, the Creator of all things knowing that He is in control. We must trust Him with all or hearts, soul, and our mind. We must learn to love one another as we learn to love God because when we do all things become possible through the substance of love. To love the Lord God and to love one another binds all things together under one roof where all things are made possible once connected to the mutual Source from which they came.
So if you are going through trying times now, listen to what the brother of Jesus told us.
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James 1: 2–8
James said it all. I could add my two cents to this as well. The trying times we are allowed to go through produce hope. Through hope, we are compelled to reach out to God who does the rest of the process for us. If you lack anything just reach out to the Master Gardener and He will come quickly to aid you in achieving the very thing that He created in you to become. However, it is your choice to reach out to God, or not. At this very moment, God is reaching out to some of you. Let those who have eyes to see recognize the message at hand. Let those who have ears hear; and a heart to perceive, receive the message intended for them. Selah!
