Can I
pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The
Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
If
clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth.
Whether
a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there
it will lie.
Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
Ecclesiastes 11:3-4
This ends this
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
This is the third in a series about living this thing
called life, a life that God has blessed us to live, a life He expects us to
live within His principles and expectations. In Ecclesiastes, Chapter 11, we
find some of those principles and expectations which so far has included living
in generosity and investing our time, talent, and treasure in others. Today, we
find the word of the Lord instructing us to go with the flow, to not stop
living because of events in life we have no control over.
In other words, life happens and you often can’t do
anything about it. To underscore this, we find our scripture verse providing us
a few examples:
1.
If clouds are full of water, they pour
rain on the earth.
Who
has the ability to control the weather except for the Lord? And yet, we worry
and fret all the time about whether or not it will rain, something we have
absolutely no power over. The bottom line is that when the clouds are full,
rain is going to fall.
Sometimes
life is like this too. Circumstances come upon us that we have no control over.
And so instead of sitting around and begrudging these things when they happen,
perhaps we should try and see where God is working in the midst of those
circumstances. When the rain is falling, He is often watering parts of His
creation, bring life sustaining sustenance to plants, trees, and grass. There
is a purpose there beyond what we might see and so too is it when other matters
out of our control happen. We would be well served to step back and look at the
bigger picture of what God is doing, coming to Him in prayer and asking His to
reveal His purposes in the midst of what we’re experiencing.
Trust
me, when we come before Him in prayer, He will answer those prayers and it’s in
receiving His wisdom that we see His glory revealed.
2.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to
the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
Think
about this example. You’re in a large forest filled with gigantic trees. One
tree is older and its roots have begun to die, so much so that the tree is no
longer able to remain anchored in the ground. And so the tree begins to lean
and soon falls. Once that tree begins to fall who can change that? Who can do
anything about where that tree falls and where it comes to rest? It will fall
where it falls and rest where it lands. You can’t control that.
Sometimes
matters of life can fall on us, matters that we couldn’t prevent or help.
Perhaps we have a sudden expense we didn’t anticipate, like our car breaking
down or an appliance failing at home. We need to get these things fixed but didn’t
plan on having to fork out a lot of money. We find our budget impacted as we
try and figure out where the money will come to get the items fixed. We had no
control over the car or appliance breaking. It just happened and so we need to
deal with the situation as it is, like the tree falling and lying in the
forest.
Thanks
be to God that we can always turn to Him in times of need, knowing He is always
there for us, no matter what life might bring on us. Through all the
uncertainties of life, through the myriad of things we have no control over,
God is the one supreme certainty we can rely on.
Where
would we be without Him as we live this thing called life?
3. Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
This verse doesn’t tell us to forego wisdom. That’s not the
intent. Of course, there is a day more suited to plant than another, a day
better for reaping than another. But we’re not to continue to put off doing
things because the circumstances might not be ideal. If you’re waiting for
things to be perfect by worldly standards, then you’re going to find yourself
waiting awhile. You may need to plant although the winds may not be ideal. You
may need to reap although the clouds threaten rain. Work still needs to get
done.
In life, things aren’t always perfect either but I don’t need
to tell you that, right? Yet, we often put off doing this or that because the
surrounding elements aren’t quite what we would like them to be. More often or
not, we’re using external things as excuses to mask our internal anxieties or
laziness. It’s a lot easier to blame things outside of ourselves than it is to
face the things inside that are holding us back from being all that the Lord
wants us to be or to carry our His purposes.
Perhaps we should just seek the Lord and His counsel as to
the right time to do what He wants us to do. For His timing is always perfect
and so we will do what He wants us to do in perfect time when we follow His
guidance and direction.
You get the point from all this right?
We don’t have control over many things as we live this
thing called life but we know that God is in control of all things. All we need
to do is turn to Him and seek His purposes and walk the paths He wants us to
walk. He will always provide us discernment and never steer us wrong when we
seek Him first.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
