God honored our bodily lives by taking human form. He is closely familiar with our prolonged, seemingly limited, seemingly fruitless harvest and yet he says we shall reap with shouts of joy. Where does this shout come from? What kind of paradoxical notion of joy is this? Is this just another religious saying that holds no relevance for real life?
On the cross, Jesus Christ faced the most disastrous dry period that could ever come upon anyone. He was completely and mercilessly cut off from his life source, left to die alone underneath a dark and empty sky with no God to call on and no chance of rescue. And he suffered this experience in the flesh. Now, the worst possible human disaster will never happen to us because it already happened to him on the cross. Ah! now there is that shout of joy from deep inside you. When once it hits you that no amount of dry ground, no seeming hopelessness, will ever be able to destroy the seed of divine life that grows in your body if you believe in him who died and rose again… For those who believe, the ground is never quite dry. For those who believe in him, even death itself can only lead you to resurrection.
Are you waiting for your harvest time? Will you trust him with your dry ground? Will you say with Paul, “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that is being revealed in us…” and with King David, “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living. Be strong, take heart and wait for the Lord”? He is cultivating a shout in your uttermost.
Kenyon
Thanks for sharing a good reminder, Kenyon. (This reminds me that I ought to express a general thanks to you guys for your continued efforts within the arts and faith arena. Thanks indeed!)
ReplyDeleteI am curious, however: if His way of harvesting is "irrational", is not the whole cycle of life irrational then, too? This talk of harvest and barrenness reminds me of growing tomato plants. When I was a kid, my dad would grow them, however some years the seeds wouldn't take. We researched the matter, and realized that the soil - particularly with tomatoes - is choosy about what has been in it prior. Oftentimes the soil has to sit dormant for a few years before it's ready to start growing tomatoes again.
While when one is right in the middle of a time of barrenness it may seem "irrational", over the span of one's life - like the perpetual span of a piece of ground - is it not also fairly common and predictable? Perhaps remembering the "normality" of barrenness, still remembering its "irrationality", may provide some respite!