Month: June 2019

Is He Calling Your Name?

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The waiting room is noisy and crowded. People are trying different ways to not look stressed. Some are reading, some texting a friend while others simply sit quietly. But if we were honest all of us are straining to hear only one thing and that is for our own name to be called.

But we will never be called unless the doctor is expecting us. We will never be expected unless we have scheduled an appointment. And they will never schedule that appointment until the terms of payment are accepted.

Have I made that appointment with God? Does He have my name written down in his book? My great assurance is that He has found me – His lost sheep and brought me and all the other wanderers home to Himself. When the bill for our rescue came due He stamped across the invoice – paid in full! Because the Good Shepherd has laid down His life for His sheep any moment now He will be calling your name!

Fallow Ground

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Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord , till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Hosea 10:12 KJVFallow – a state in which a field is unplowed, unplanted and unused.That a field is left fallow in no way implies that it isn’t lovely or that it is useless. Fallowness is a state of rest during which the ground can regain its strength after years of crop bearing.But the same God who chooses our seasons to lie fallow also decides when it is time to plow again. We are most able to hear the plowman’s call when we rest in His timing and plan. He has not chosen us to decide the seed or the season of planting. We are called to abide quietly till the new crop must be put in. Then we can awaken with joy because the roughness of a plow dragging across our field means a harvest of mercy is dawning on God’s horizon!

Apple Harvest

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“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. John 15:5 NKJV

As a New Englander I don’t have much experience with grape vines. But I do remember that in the winter we used to prune apple trees.

First to go was the sucker growth. These long spindly sprouts looked healthy but in reality, suckers just stole strength from the better branches and in return yielded nothing but leaves.

Next we sought out the dead branches. Often these were hidden by the healthy ones and each part of the tree needed to be examined and have the dead wood cleared to open a pathway for sunlight and air.

Last of all we carefully cut away any diseased limbs. Fireblight was the usual culprit and could only be safely removed in the coldest season. That is why we chose winter so as not to spread it to the rest of the tree.

What remained behind waiting for spring was the good fruit bearing wood. To the casual observer the trees looked savagely treated. But the orchard owner could see the beautiful but still dormant fruit spurs just waiting for their chance to give the sweetest and most abundant harvest at the right time.

Without him we can do nothing. But pruned and shaped to the master’s design he promises we will one day yield a mighty harvest!