"The Weed of Greed"
Jesus also said that the weed of greed (the deceitfulness of wealth) would strangle my garden. A number of years ago I received a modest amount of money from the sale of our family's business. Following my dad's model, I invested most of it in a diversity of stocks—depending on my father, an investment letter, and the Internet for financial advice. At first, I enjoyed the challenge of investing wisely. But at some point, this task became a choking weed. Each time I logged on to my computer I would scrutinize stock prices and news. I would get excited when my stocks went up --" Wow! I made $500 today"--and discouraged when they went down--"Why did he recommend that stock?!" And then I would churn with indecision: "Should I sell? Should I buy?”
Was it wrong for me to research and track my investments? Not at all. But at some point the weeds had taken over, entangling my heart with thoughts of making money. In the Old Testament economy God limited his people’s pursuit of financial gain. Work on the Sabbath was forbidden. Their yearly calendar included several weeks of religious festivals in Jerusalem. Every seventh year they grew no crops to rest the land (and themselves). Newlyweds were given a one-year honeymoon! Lenders charged no interest. And land titles reverted to the original owners on the Jubilee (every 50th year). Meditating on these policies, I was reminded that God cares more about the value of my soul than the value of my stocks. As a result, I shifted some money to investments that I don't need to watch regularly. I also limit how often I check stock prices. And I mostly invest in blue chip companies that don't soar or sink in a few hours of trading. Will I make less money? Possibly. Will I have money to live securely in retirement? Only God knows. But I do know that I have regained control of a weedy patch of my life.
2010/08/03
Gardening the Soul: Weeding the Garden,2
Choking Weeds
Michael Pollan began his gardening experience with Ralph Waldo Emerson's optimism that weeds are simply plants whose virtues we haven't discovered. (Did Emerson garden?!) Experience quickly shattered the romance. He found that once these malevolent weeds are rooted in the garden, they will have to be wrestled out before they will leave. And their passion is to throw raucous parties for their "seedy" friends, who also want to linger when the party is over. But it is certainly no party for the gardener.
It is no wonder, then, that Jesus used weeds as a picture of the adversaries of a Christian's growth: What was sown among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. (Mt.13:22). Weeds in the garden and in life share many life-strangling characteristics.
The Weed of Worry
I am a champion worrier whose skills have been honed through years of practice. Like Laura Simon, I can worry over the trivial as well as the eternal: “If there isn't an impending catastrophe that requires my concern, I will find an ordinary event, some more modest matter, to fret over and dwell on."
During my early thirties I led a small church. In my journals from those years, I sound like a fretful mother agonizing over her baby's health:
• "Are we going to make it?"
• "How important are numbers?"
• "Should we continue to meet in a home?"
• "Do I measure the ministry on the basis of my growing maturity? or the church's? or both?
• "Are my gifts best suited for a pastoral ministry?"
• "Would the church be better off without me?"
• "Should I go back to school to earn my doctorate so I can teach at a college or seminary?"
Jesus instructed those choked by worry to observe the growth of wild flowers: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. The valleys in the Black Hills of western South Dakota are home to a stunning abundance of wild flowers—the creamy lilies, the sunny black-eyed susans, and the shaggy bergamots. Such effortless splendor is breathtaking.
Jesus had a stinging question for us faithless worriers: If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? The wild grasses live for a season. We will live forever. Isn't God much more committed to beautifying his eternal creatures? When it came to worries about my professional life, I didn't know the future. But as I learned to trust the flowering of my life to the Gardener's hands, I relaxed. I knew that my heavenly Father was much more committed to turning my shabby garden into a creation of greater beauty than the mountain meadows.
What worries are choking your life? Do you worry about losing your job? about the safety of your child? about your retirement income? about potential severe weather? Jesus challenges us: Do not worry, saying “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” ... Your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness—and all these things will be added onto you. If we direct our time and energy and thoughts toward pursuing God, He will take care of the rest!
Michael Pollan began his gardening experience with Ralph Waldo Emerson's optimism that weeds are simply plants whose virtues we haven't discovered. (Did Emerson garden?!) Experience quickly shattered the romance. He found that once these malevolent weeds are rooted in the garden, they will have to be wrestled out before they will leave. And their passion is to throw raucous parties for their "seedy" friends, who also want to linger when the party is over. But it is certainly no party for the gardener.
It is no wonder, then, that Jesus used weeds as a picture of the adversaries of a Christian's growth: What was sown among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. (Mt.13:22). Weeds in the garden and in life share many life-strangling characteristics.
The Weed of Worry
I am a champion worrier whose skills have been honed through years of practice. Like Laura Simon, I can worry over the trivial as well as the eternal: “If there isn't an impending catastrophe that requires my concern, I will find an ordinary event, some more modest matter, to fret over and dwell on."
During my early thirties I led a small church. In my journals from those years, I sound like a fretful mother agonizing over her baby's health:
• "Are we going to make it?"
• "How important are numbers?"
• "Should we continue to meet in a home?"
• "Do I measure the ministry on the basis of my growing maturity? or the church's? or both?
• "Are my gifts best suited for a pastoral ministry?"
• "Would the church be better off without me?"
• "Should I go back to school to earn my doctorate so I can teach at a college or seminary?"
Jesus instructed those choked by worry to observe the growth of wild flowers: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. The valleys in the Black Hills of western South Dakota are home to a stunning abundance of wild flowers—the creamy lilies, the sunny black-eyed susans, and the shaggy bergamots. Such effortless splendor is breathtaking.
Jesus had a stinging question for us faithless worriers: If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? The wild grasses live for a season. We will live forever. Isn't God much more committed to beautifying his eternal creatures? When it came to worries about my professional life, I didn't know the future. But as I learned to trust the flowering of my life to the Gardener's hands, I relaxed. I knew that my heavenly Father was much more committed to turning my shabby garden into a creation of greater beauty than the mountain meadows.
What worries are choking your life? Do you worry about losing your job? about the safety of your child? about your retirement income? about potential severe weather? Jesus challenges us: Do not worry, saying “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” ... Your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness—and all these things will be added onto you. If we direct our time and energy and thoughts toward pursuing God, He will take care of the rest!
2010/07/22
Gardening the Soul: Weeding the Garden, 1
The Curse of Weeds
Weeding is my most demanding garden chore. It consumes nearly half of my time in spring and early summer. The drudgery of weeding is probably the #1 reason inexperienced gardeners never graduate and become experienced gardeners! Without an ongoing attack on this powerful opponent, my garden beds would be quickly devoured by a horde of ravenous weeds. Genesis explains why weeds are such a robust foe for gardeners:
Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground. (Gen.3:17-19)
After Adam and Eve’s rebellion, no garden yielded its bounty without painful toil and the sweat of your brow. Thorns and thistles perennially contest our work in the garden.
Weeding is my most demanding garden chore. It consumes nearly half of my time in spring and early summer. The drudgery of weeding is probably the #1 reason inexperienced gardeners never graduate and become experienced gardeners! Without an ongoing attack on this powerful opponent, my garden beds would be quickly devoured by a horde of ravenous weeds. Genesis explains why weeds are such a robust foe for gardeners:
Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground. (Gen.3:17-19)
After Adam and Eve’s rebellion, no garden yielded its bounty without painful toil and the sweat of your brow. Thorns and thistles perennially contest our work in the garden.
But if weeds are so vigorous, why haven't they covered the planet? Why were there few weeds when the Puritans landed in New England? Why don’t I see more weeds on my hikes in the Black Hills? Michael Pollan explains that weeds: are plants particularly well adapted to man-made places. They don't grow in forests or prairies—in "the wild." Weeds thrive in gardens, meadows, lawns, vacant lots, railroad sidings, hard by dumpsters and in the cracks of sidewalks. They grow where we live, in other words, and hardly anywhere else.
Where mankind rests, weeds rest. But wherever I plunge my spade, weeds rush to challenge my claim. (Where do they come from?!) Like a child who has no interest in a toy until his sibling picks it up, weeds jealously contest my interest in the soil. Weeds are man's, not nature's, curse. When people ask me why I believe the Bible is a revelation from God, one of my answers is: “Weeds.” Weeds confirm the truth of Genesis.
Weeds are part of God’s overall judgment on us rebels. In addition to weeds, life is filled with cancer and canker sores, tornadoes and tomato worms, asps and AIDS, calamity and cavities, aging and arguing, famine and fat, ad infinitum.” Why did God do this? If He had left us in Eden, how would we have recognized our need for Him? A few years ago when a friend of my brother’s was experiencing hard times, he complained: “I thought God wouldn’t give me more than I can handle.” My brother wisely disagreed: “I find that God frequently does give me more than I can handle—that way I am forced to depend on Him.”
The weeds of life will never go away. But the great news is that I don’t have to wage that war on my own. There is a Gardener who has His gloves on and a hoe in His hand, eager to help me attack those weeds! Will you invite Him into your garden?
2010/06/29
The Father Waters His Garden, 3
“Yoked to God”
Jeremiah charged that God’s people were in rebellion: Long ago you broke off your yoke and said, `I will not serve you!’ This yoke—a crossbeam placed on the shoulders of an ox with a loop of rope for its neck—allowed a farmer to harness and direct the power of the animal. God’s people had thrown off their yoke, unwilling to submit to His guidance.
Before his conversion, C.S. Lewis was disturbed by a gospel which proclaimed a “Transcendental Interferer.” He explained: “If true, [I] knew there was no region even in the innermost depth of one's soul which one could surround with a barbed wire fence and guard with a notice of: “No Admittance.” I wanted some place, however small, of which I could say to all other beings, "This is my business and mine only."
But is God's guidance an “interference”? Jesus promised rest to the weary: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, ... and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Mt.11:28-30) Often a farmer would train an inexperienced animal by yoking it to an experienced one. We who are weary and burdened are invited to place our necks in Jesus’ easy and light yoke, allowing him to gently lead our parched souls to his Refreshing Waters.
The board of directors of my ministry and I began praying for the founding of a Biblically-based counseling center in our city. After several years, we discovered a nearby counseling service that was committed to a Biblical model. During the next two years the head of that ministry visited Sioux Falls to counsel and teach a counseling class. That second year, I taught part of the class with him.
Our group was still unsure how the ministry would begin, but during that second year’s class, one of the participants heard God’s call to this ministry. As events unfolded over the following months, I envisioned that this man with his counseling gifts, and I, with my teaching gifts, would join together to help people become whole in Christ. It seemed a natural, Spirit-led fit.
But before the match was made, it began to unravel. First, this man was warned by an acquaintance: "Watch out for Bernie. He has to control things." Then the counselor who was helping us establish the ministry, came to believe similarly. (Though he later discovered he had misjudged circumstances.) Then a team of men from other biblical counseling centers was invited to Sioux Falls to help us finalize our plans. They strongly advised this man to form his own board and cut any formal ties with my board and me.
As we discussed, debated, and prayed over the next few weeks it became increasingly clear that this new ministry would form its own board. During this time we polled the counseling class—70% said they would not attend if I alone taught the class. When over 90% of my college students rate me an "Excellent" professor, I didn't need to hear an angel’s voice to discern God's leading! I had invested a great deal of prayer and energy to this vision. And it would be a reality—only it would not include me. Even though I was saddened and felt mildly betrayed, this was not a crushing experience. Knowing I am yoked to a vision-directing God, I didn't have to manipulate people or circumstances to fit my vision. A few years later, while serving on the board of this counseling ministry, the director told me that he wished the ministry had been organized the way I had envisioned it. I believe God prevented those involved from adopting that perspective because God wanted my life to bud in a different direction.
When I am drinking from the "reservoir that gushes into eternity," I can peacefully accept whatever life brings. "Lord, I know that Life is not found in the pursuit of my will. So I willingly, joyously submit to the yoke of your will.”
Jeremiah charged that God’s people were in rebellion: Long ago you broke off your yoke and said, `I will not serve you!’ This yoke—a crossbeam placed on the shoulders of an ox with a loop of rope for its neck—allowed a farmer to harness and direct the power of the animal. God’s people had thrown off their yoke, unwilling to submit to His guidance.
Before his conversion, C.S. Lewis was disturbed by a gospel which proclaimed a “Transcendental Interferer.” He explained: “If true, [I] knew there was no region even in the innermost depth of one's soul which one could surround with a barbed wire fence and guard with a notice of: “No Admittance.” I wanted some place, however small, of which I could say to all other beings, "This is my business and mine only."
But is God's guidance an “interference”? Jesus promised rest to the weary: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, ... and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Mt.11:28-30) Often a farmer would train an inexperienced animal by yoking it to an experienced one. We who are weary and burdened are invited to place our necks in Jesus’ easy and light yoke, allowing him to gently lead our parched souls to his Refreshing Waters.
The board of directors of my ministry and I began praying for the founding of a Biblically-based counseling center in our city. After several years, we discovered a nearby counseling service that was committed to a Biblical model. During the next two years the head of that ministry visited Sioux Falls to counsel and teach a counseling class. That second year, I taught part of the class with him.
Our group was still unsure how the ministry would begin, but during that second year’s class, one of the participants heard God’s call to this ministry. As events unfolded over the following months, I envisioned that this man with his counseling gifts, and I, with my teaching gifts, would join together to help people become whole in Christ. It seemed a natural, Spirit-led fit.
But before the match was made, it began to unravel. First, this man was warned by an acquaintance: "Watch out for Bernie. He has to control things." Then the counselor who was helping us establish the ministry, came to believe similarly. (Though he later discovered he had misjudged circumstances.) Then a team of men from other biblical counseling centers was invited to Sioux Falls to help us finalize our plans. They strongly advised this man to form his own board and cut any formal ties with my board and me.
As we discussed, debated, and prayed over the next few weeks it became increasingly clear that this new ministry would form its own board. During this time we polled the counseling class—70% said they would not attend if I alone taught the class. When over 90% of my college students rate me an "Excellent" professor, I didn't need to hear an angel’s voice to discern God's leading! I had invested a great deal of prayer and energy to this vision. And it would be a reality—only it would not include me. Even though I was saddened and felt mildly betrayed, this was not a crushing experience. Knowing I am yoked to a vision-directing God, I didn't have to manipulate people or circumstances to fit my vision. A few years later, while serving on the board of this counseling ministry, the director told me that he wished the ministry had been organized the way I had envisioned it. I believe God prevented those involved from adopting that perspective because God wanted my life to bud in a different direction.
When I am drinking from the "reservoir that gushes into eternity," I can peacefully accept whatever life brings. "Lord, I know that Life is not found in the pursuit of my will. So I willingly, joyously submit to the yoke of your will.”
2010/05/27
Gardening the Soul: The Father Waters His Garden, 2
Counterfeit Waters
Gardens need water. Human seedlings need water. And Jesus is the only inexhaustible source of thirst-quenching water. He proclaimed: Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (Jn.4:14).
Unfortunately, we spend most of our time drinking run-off cistern water (see previous post below). We hope that marrying Mr./Ms. Right or building a dream home or finding an intimate friend or starting a family or winning the approval of a parent or achieving professional awards or earning an advanced degree will satisfy our longings. But none of these—or even all of these!–will cause a life to bud and flourish.
Today’s most frequently visited cistern may be financial prosperity. Western attitudes toward money have become all consuming (pun intended!). "Over time our relationship with money—earning it, spending it, investing it, owing it, protecting it, worrying about it—has taken over the major part of our lives." What are the returns from our obsessive focus on money? Are those who earn more, happier than others? Survey after survey shows that once our basic needs are met, increasing our income does not significantly increase our happiness.
Why are we so foolish? Why did the woman that Jesus encountered at a well in Samaria relentlessly rush to marriage—a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth time—to slake her thirst? Why was the couple we met in the Bahamas still chasing travel when travel no longer satisfied? Why does a person set higher financial goals when earlier, achieved goals didn't satisfy?
Near winter's end, if I remove a bare branch from a fruit tree and place it in a vase of water, the branch blooms amazingly, gloriously, as it sucks up the water. But the glory is a lie. Soon the branch will shrivel and die. Only the sap from its tree can produce true fruit. Frequently a life that drinks cistern water will suddenly, splendidly flower. Don't young lovers blossom before our eyes? Can't a new job return bounce to a person's step? Isn’t it a thrill to buy a new house? But these counterfeit waters cannot produce fruit. Jesus explained: No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. (Jn.15:4) If I don't cling to Jesus, I will be like the branch that is thrown away and withers. And the longer I am severed from Christ, the more my fruitless soul shrivels. I become obsessed with the trivial—a sports team, my home, my appearance, my health, my retirement. Jesus alone pours the sap of God's life into my life, producing authentic fruit.
Gardens need water. Human seedlings need water. And Jesus is the only inexhaustible source of thirst-quenching water. He proclaimed: Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (Jn.4:14).
Unfortunately, we spend most of our time drinking run-off cistern water (see previous post below). We hope that marrying Mr./Ms. Right or building a dream home or finding an intimate friend or starting a family or winning the approval of a parent or achieving professional awards or earning an advanced degree will satisfy our longings. But none of these—or even all of these!–will cause a life to bud and flourish.
Today’s most frequently visited cistern may be financial prosperity. Western attitudes toward money have become all consuming (pun intended!). "Over time our relationship with money—earning it, spending it, investing it, owing it, protecting it, worrying about it—has taken over the major part of our lives." What are the returns from our obsessive focus on money? Are those who earn more, happier than others? Survey after survey shows that once our basic needs are met, increasing our income does not significantly increase our happiness.
Why are we so foolish? Why did the woman that Jesus encountered at a well in Samaria relentlessly rush to marriage—a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth time—to slake her thirst? Why was the couple we met in the Bahamas still chasing travel when travel no longer satisfied? Why does a person set higher financial goals when earlier, achieved goals didn't satisfy?
Near winter's end, if I remove a bare branch from a fruit tree and place it in a vase of water, the branch blooms amazingly, gloriously, as it sucks up the water. But the glory is a lie. Soon the branch will shrivel and die. Only the sap from its tree can produce true fruit. Frequently a life that drinks cistern water will suddenly, splendidly flower. Don't young lovers blossom before our eyes? Can't a new job return bounce to a person's step? Isn’t it a thrill to buy a new house? But these counterfeit waters cannot produce fruit. Jesus explained: No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. (Jn.15:4) If I don't cling to Jesus, I will be like the branch that is thrown away and withers. And the longer I am severed from Christ, the more my fruitless soul shrivels. I become obsessed with the trivial—a sports team, my home, my appearance, my health, my retirement. Jesus alone pours the sap of God's life into my life, producing authentic fruit.
2010/05/19
Gardening the Soul: The Father Waters His Garden, 1
The Living Water
Jeremiah was appalled that his people had abandoned the only dependable source of life:
My people have committed two sins;
They have forsaken me, the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jer.2:13)
Israel was (and is) a drought-prone land. As a result, cisterns were critical to people's survival. These dug out reservoirs were filled during the rainy season so that life-sustaining water would be available for people and plants during the six-month dry season.
Now suppose a land-owning Israelite had been blessed with a spring that gushed pure water for decades. However, he decided to ignore that spring and dig a cistern so he could drink parceled-out, stagnant rainwater instead. Furthermore, while digging the cistern, it formed a crack so that it always dried up during the summer drought. An incredulous Jeremiah explained that God's people had turned from the Living Water to unreliable, run-off rainwater. They had bartered the eternal, all-powerful God for non-gods.
As Cathy and I approached our 20th wedding anniversary, we received an unexpected gift of money that we used to finance a week of vacation to the Bahamas. It was our first trip to the sparkling, turquoise waters of the Caribbean. While it was icy winter in South Dakota, we joyously swam and snorkeled and talked and loved as we celebrated the our God-blessed life together. One day at lunch we met a couple who spent about half of every year traveling. They had been to more places than the Travel Channel: India, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Hong Kong, Alaska. As they described these exotic places, we noticed a lack of passion—their adventures apparently provided fewer thrills than the Swine flu! Had travel always been so uninspiring? I doubt it. Initially it seemed to quench their thirst. Slowly, though, the water was seeping from this cracked cistern. Eventually it provided no refreshment for their souls--only habit and the memory of past draughts kept them dipping in this waterless well.
Like every garden, every person must have a dependable source of water--something to make them come fully alive. This couple had invested their hopes in travel. But they had, as Jeremiah explained, pursued worthlessness, and things that do not profit. They were withering in a full-scale drought because they were drinking from damaged, dry cisterns. Cathy and I traveled to celebrate life. This couple traveled to find life.
Jeremiah was appalled that his people had abandoned the only dependable source of life:
My people have committed two sins;
They have forsaken me, the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jer.2:13)
Israel was (and is) a drought-prone land. As a result, cisterns were critical to people's survival. These dug out reservoirs were filled during the rainy season so that life-sustaining water would be available for people and plants during the six-month dry season.
Now suppose a land-owning Israelite had been blessed with a spring that gushed pure water for decades. However, he decided to ignore that spring and dig a cistern so he could drink parceled-out, stagnant rainwater instead. Furthermore, while digging the cistern, it formed a crack so that it always dried up during the summer drought. An incredulous Jeremiah explained that God's people had turned from the Living Water to unreliable, run-off rainwater. They had bartered the eternal, all-powerful God for non-gods.
As Cathy and I approached our 20th wedding anniversary, we received an unexpected gift of money that we used to finance a week of vacation to the Bahamas. It was our first trip to the sparkling, turquoise waters of the Caribbean. While it was icy winter in South Dakota, we joyously swam and snorkeled and talked and loved as we celebrated the our God-blessed life together. One day at lunch we met a couple who spent about half of every year traveling. They had been to more places than the Travel Channel: India, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Hong Kong, Alaska. As they described these exotic places, we noticed a lack of passion—their adventures apparently provided fewer thrills than the Swine flu! Had travel always been so uninspiring? I doubt it. Initially it seemed to quench their thirst. Slowly, though, the water was seeping from this cracked cistern. Eventually it provided no refreshment for their souls--only habit and the memory of past draughts kept them dipping in this waterless well.
Like every garden, every person must have a dependable source of water--something to make them come fully alive. This couple had invested their hopes in travel. But they had, as Jeremiah explained, pursued worthlessness, and things that do not profit. They were withering in a full-scale drought because they were drinking from damaged, dry cisterns. Cathy and I traveled to celebrate life. This couple traveled to find life.
2010/05/06
Gardening the Soul: The Father Loves His Garden Unconditionally
I am baffled—I have two healthy-looking, ten year-old apricot trees that produce NO fruit. Israel’s Vinedresser was equally puzzled when his vineyard produced only sour grapes: What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? (Is.5:4-8) Though God had labored long and hard, his vineyard reaped only rotten fruit. As a result, God would judge the nation, taking away its hedge and breaking down its walls.
But what was God's attitude toward his vanquished vineyard? The vineyard of the Lord is ... the garden of his delight. What?! Did I read this correctly? Surely the original Hebrew reads differently! How could this foul-fruited vineyard have been a delight to God? If I tore down my garden's fence, if I didn't weed or water for an entire year, I wouldn't call my garden a delight—I would call it a disaster! Contrary to every expectation or explanation, God's wasted nation remained the garden of his delight. How could this be?
When God’s people were corrupt during the preaching of Hosea, God promised to turn the land into a wasteland, overrun by briers and thorns. But this impending judgment caused God’s heart to churn:
How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender,
I will not execute my fierce anger,
nor will I again destroy Ephraim.
for I am God and not man,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come to destroy. (Hos.11:8f, RSV)
God's heart writhed in agony for his deeply loved, though deeply defiant nation—my heart recoils within me. He repeatedly wailed: How can I? . . . How can I? He relented, moderating the punishment—I will not execute my fierce anger.
How is it that God's love can be spurned again and again and again and not die? Several years ago my friend Jon was married to a woman who strayed into another man’s arms. We prayed for many months that God would turn her heart back to her husband. Sadly, God’s answer appeared to be "No” when she asked for a divorce. One day as the divorce neared, I received a phone call from Jon. He made a startling announcement—his wife had confessed her sin and wanted to rebuild their broken marriage. I exploded: "Praise God!" But Jon was silent. I asked: "What's wrong?" Jon answered: "I don't want her anymore." My friend's love and hope had died. The countless rejections had slowly leached the love from his heart. (Though with God’s help, Jon was able to regenerate that love and resurrect his marriage.)
But God's love does not wilt in a drought. Why didn’t God dump these rebels who clung to their sin? For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst. When our love is repeatedly repulsed, it eventually dies. Not so with the Holy One. He is right there in your midst. God doesn't abandon us when we sin—he camps in the middle of the blood, sweat, and tears of our sin, still calling us the garden of his delight. He is able to do this because his love is not spawned or sustained by the garden’s condition. God loves because it is his nature to love. He can do nothing else.
But what was God's attitude toward his vanquished vineyard? The vineyard of the Lord is ... the garden of his delight. What?! Did I read this correctly? Surely the original Hebrew reads differently! How could this foul-fruited vineyard have been a delight to God? If I tore down my garden's fence, if I didn't weed or water for an entire year, I wouldn't call my garden a delight—I would call it a disaster! Contrary to every expectation or explanation, God's wasted nation remained the garden of his delight. How could this be?
When God’s people were corrupt during the preaching of Hosea, God promised to turn the land into a wasteland, overrun by briers and thorns. But this impending judgment caused God’s heart to churn:
How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender,
I will not execute my fierce anger,
nor will I again destroy Ephraim.
for I am God and not man,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come to destroy. (Hos.11:8f, RSV)
God's heart writhed in agony for his deeply loved, though deeply defiant nation—my heart recoils within me. He repeatedly wailed: How can I? . . . How can I? He relented, moderating the punishment—I will not execute my fierce anger.
How is it that God's love can be spurned again and again and again and not die? Several years ago my friend Jon was married to a woman who strayed into another man’s arms. We prayed for many months that God would turn her heart back to her husband. Sadly, God’s answer appeared to be "No” when she asked for a divorce. One day as the divorce neared, I received a phone call from Jon. He made a startling announcement—his wife had confessed her sin and wanted to rebuild their broken marriage. I exploded: "Praise God!" But Jon was silent. I asked: "What's wrong?" Jon answered: "I don't want her anymore." My friend's love and hope had died. The countless rejections had slowly leached the love from his heart. (Though with God’s help, Jon was able to regenerate that love and resurrect his marriage.)
But God's love does not wilt in a drought. Why didn’t God dump these rebels who clung to their sin? For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst. When our love is repeatedly repulsed, it eventually dies. Not so with the Holy One. He is right there in your midst. God doesn't abandon us when we sin—he camps in the middle of the blood, sweat, and tears of our sin, still calling us the garden of his delight. He is able to do this because his love is not spawned or sustained by the garden’s condition. God loves because it is his nature to love. He can do nothing else.
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