Some days I wonder, "Why? Why, Lord? Why the struggles?
Why the challenges and heartbreak?" Is there an answer? I believe there
is.
When I look outside today I see a beautiful hay field, springing
up a lovely green. There's hardly a weed in sight. How did this gloriously beautiful field come
to be? The gentleman who owns that land worked hard. The land was turned a
couple times, late last year and early this spring. I wonder if the soil could have
spoken to me then if it would have asked, "Why the struggles? Why break me
up and turn me under?"
Was that all the trial and upheaval for the soil? No. Next, the turned soil was spread with
fertilizer. Not just any fertilizer, animal dung. It was very smelly for a few
days, and not in a good way. I wonder what the soil would have said to me
during that time? "Oh my! Can you
believe this? I am laying here, heating up under this horrific odor? Can things get any worse? Turned, broken up,
and now tortured for days with heat and awful smells?"
After all the trial and turmoil the soil went through, it is
springing forth with a grand blanket of green.
It is very lovely to behold. When
I look upon that field, I'm of a scripture. "I have told you all this so
that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and
sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." John 16:33
(NLT)
The trials of life aren't fun. Quite often they're heartbreaking, leaving me very sad. Sometimes
the trials are simply horribly smelly and frustrating, likely similar to what the soil went through being
prepared for planting. But, without all that preparation, the turning and
fertilizing, good growth isn't possible.
The farmer's seed would land on hard ground and be blown away, or barely sprout
due to lack of nutrition. I want to be a
deep rooted, standing solid in my Lord's plan. So, ultimately, I do know the
"Why?". It is so that my fleshly stubbornness can be broken up leaving me ready so that Jesus can work in me, and I can bloom into the
servant He needs me to become. I need to
grow so that I can share Jesus, plant seed, and help harvest for the Lord.
Mark 4: 13-20 Parable of the Seeds
"And the seed that fell on good soil represents those
who hear and accept God's word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even
a hundred times as much as had been planted." Mark 4:20
