Getting Muddy...
I got stuck in the mud yesterday, Gary , my husband, had just finished plowing the field the day before and I forgot and went on my usual morning cow checking ride in the Can-Am to the grass fields next door and I crossed over the freshly ripped field. It had rained the night before and it was about a foot and a half deep. My sweet neighbors across the street saw me and pulled me out. Another friend I told asked me if I was going to turn it into a blog - so of course! But what about the situation was blog worthy? A warning to not get caught up in sticky sin? But Jesus washes us clean as snow? No, Thats the obvious choice.
Instead I went to Hosea 10:12,
Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of loving devotion; break up your unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness upon you like rain.
Our lives are like the dirt - We are dust after all... Psalms 103:14-16 For he knows we are but dust and that our days are few and brief, like grass, like flowers, blown by the wind and gone forever.
But God values us and wants to use that dirt. Isaiah 64:8 But now, Lord, You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter, And all of us are the work of Your hand.
Our unplowed heart is like my field used to be - Hard - predictable - clean -but nothing was growing except for a few stubborn weeds.
We needed to plow it up to get it ready for the rains that would transform it into a place ready to recieve seed and able to grow an abundant crop.
We have tried sowing into a hard field. The seed could hardly penetrate - some just sat on the top waiting for the birds to come and take it away.
Our unplowed ground is the places within us that we havent allowed God to take posession of. In the Jewish Culture it is customary to "take possession" of a piece of land by plowing a corner of the field, once the field is bought. It isnt fully transferred until the new owner breaks the ground. According to "An Essay on Possession in Jewish Law," by Boaz Cohen, Pastureland was common property but someone could aquire posession of a piece of land by building a house or cultivating that land. Thats what made it yours.
Have you only been allowing the Lord God, creator of heaven and earth to simply graze your pastureland? Instead rip open your heart and expose it to Him. He will transform it. He will take our wastelands and will allow us to bear fruit that wouldnt be possible if we held back and didnt allow His righteousness to be sown in our lives.
What makes us right with God? Jesus - He did the work - He died and made the way - He did the hard work - We just have to allow him into our field to run his plow and take possession of every part of our lives. In order to do that it is necessary to seek him.
Deut 4:29 But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
That word Seek is baqash in Hebrew. It means to seek to find, to take hold of, to request, to demand, to procure. It doesnt mean halfheartedly saying a few prayers here and there... to crack a bible once in awhile. He wants it all! He is a jealous God, jealous for you, and He wants you to be jealous for Him. Allow Him in to every part. If you need help - here is a prayer you can start with...
"Lord God, my Father, my provision, my strength, take over every part of me. Forgive me for holding any part of myself away from you and your changing grace. If I hold anything back, show me what it is. Bring it to my mind so I can turn it over to you. Dive in and change me - water me with your goodness, Transform my hardness into your pliable clay. Make me what you want me to be, send me where you want me to go. I am no longer my own hard field I am your bog of mercy and grace that is open to your teaching- water me with your righteousness- I am open to your plans - Use me Lord, I am yours. "
