Breaking Ground

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

                 " . . . Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns."  Jeremiah  4:3

     My dictionary defines "fallow ground" as follows:  "ground which is plowed but not seeded; untilled and neglected."  The prophet likens Israel to a field freshly plowed and then left neglected and idle, not cultivated or tilled and consequently barren.  In Hosea 10:12 Jehovah says,  "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord."  We make the application to the Christian, who, after finding the Lord and being "plowed," goes no farther but allows the soil to grow up in weeds and thistles.  How long have you known the Lord?  How is the crop progressing?  Is there growth and promise of a harvest?  Or is your life at a standstill spiritually?  The Lord expects fruit from your life.  It may be that God is cutting deep into the soil of your soul but it is only because He wants fruit.  And so He sends tribulation, testing, and chastening to break up the neglected clods and chunks in your life.

     As the farmer breaks the hard clods in the spring, putting the points of the plow deep into the earth and then letting the sharp teeth of the harrow and the drag dig into the soil, the clay might well cry in pain and wonder at it all; but the farmer knows what he is doing, and so he keeps on digging and breaking.  The deeper the plow works and the oftener the sharp harrow is pulled across the face of the land, the more precious the crop of fruit will be when the harvest time comes.  God's plow goes deep, but only that the fruit may be more abundant, that in the end we may forget the plowing and rejoice in the blessing of bearing much fruit for Him.

     If you have not already done so, please take the time to read Isaiah 28:24-29.  Be a fruitful field and your reward is sure!

"Bread For Each Day"

Go To The Spring Yourself

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

                                      " . . . a cup of cold water . . . "   Matthew  10:42

     This text is generally misquoted as a "cup of water"; but Jesus is talking about a "cup of cold water."  The usual interpretation of this verse is that any little act of kindness done in Christ's name will be rewarded - even a mere cup of water.  This of course is true, but that is not the meaning here.  Rather it means that making a real "sacrifice" will be rewarded.  People in Jesus' day could not just open the door of the refrigerator and take out a bottle of cold water or add some convenient ice cubes.  Then a cup of cold water meant going to the spring - maybe far away up the side of a hill or among the rocks.  Or it might mean going to a deep well, letting down a bucket, and laboriously pulling it back up.  That was the only way to get fresh, cold water.  It meant a sacrifice.  Getting a cup of cold water probably involved going to the source of the spring; for the water in a stream a few hundred feet below the point of its origin was no longer cool in that hot climate but soon became tepid and nauseating.

     The Word of God is compared to water (John 3:5; 1 Peter 1:23).  If you want it fresh - get it at the fountain.  Too many are content to get it "piped in through the preacher" or even through these devotionals. But it has lost some of its freshness when brought by others from the spring.  Take your cup and go to the spring yourself, and enjoy it to the full.

     We occasionally meet folks who confess that they read our "devotional" for the day - but do not take time to read the Scripture.  How inconsistent to take our lukewarm articles and neglect the cold, fresh water of the Word!  The excuse "I did not have time" is pretty lame, but if you really don't have time, then please, please, please skip what I have written and read the Scripture!  Get fresh water; go to the spring yourself!

"Bread For Each Day"