You get a bunch of farmers together and you know what the main topic will be…farming! This happened at a gathering I was part of Saturday night, and it was fun to just listen. Working the soil for a living isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes endurance, skill, and the testing of your faith everyday as you labor in the fields. But if you persevere…if you use all your talents well…your land will demonstrate proof of the authenticity of your calling as a farmer. As Believers, we also must work as unto the Lord in all we do…enduring temptation and proving our faith daily. For in the end, the authenticity of our calling will be validated.
Tag: daily inspirational devotions
Proverbs 31: 8-9 ” Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
The Hebrew word used here for “speak up” is quite literally, “Open your mouth!” We are to not only speak up for the poor and needy, but be willing to contend for them with honesty and integrity. Proverbs 29:7 tells us that the righteous care about justice for the poor… and showing that we care means speaking up.
Job 5:17 ” Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.”
When God disciplines us we have two courses of action. We can either refuse it, thinking it’s only punishment. Or we can accept it, viewing it as positive correction for our good. Jeremiah talked about God disciplining him like an unruly calf, which if you’ve ever worked with livestock…you know what Jeremiah is talking about! You want the herd to follow the safe path, but suddenly they decide they’d rather go the opposite way…straight into danger. They are turning away from what they see as punishment (they’re being told where to go), and not accepting the discipline as what’s best for them. (they are unaware of the peril ahead)
Luke 12: 22-23 ” Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, or what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.’ “
As I sat pondering these verses, I wondered just how many hours of my life I’ve frittered away worrying over things I had absolutely no control over? Jesus wanted His disciples to take on a eternal perspective of their temporal lives here on earth. In other words, He was telling them to look at their human bodies and worldly possessions through the lens or view of eternity. And besides, Jesus continued, worrying is a waste of time and can’t add a single hour to our lives. (Matthew 6:27)
Ecclesiastes 11:6 ” Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.”
Every time I start a new work for the Lord, I hope and pray that it will grow and prosper…but I don’t know if it truly will. That’s because it’s up to God if it will bear fruit, not me. What He’s asking from me is simply obedience and to do it with all my heart, as working for the Lord. (Colossians 3:23) In Ecclesiastes 9:10, it repeats this idea that whatever our hands find to do, we need to do it with all our might, for life is fleeting and we don’t get do-overs…so we should work diligently while we have the opportunity…always striving to please God.
Safetypinlove 