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On Jul 24, 2016: Isaiah 28:23-29 God Works In Your Life Like A Farmer · Teachings On This Day On FerventWord

• You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016. I've titled the message, God Works in Your Life Like a Farmer. Because that's the illustration that God gives Isaiah to share with the nation of Judah. And just a quick reminder of the context here. The nation of Judah has been in rebellion against God for some time. And God's been calling out to them. He's been sending them prophets and calling them to repentance and calling them to get right with God. And as he's been sharing these announcements of judgments, if they don't repent and these calls to repentance, God here in chapter 28 gives an illustration to help them understand a little bit better how God works and the things that he does. And so he gives the illustration here of a farmer. Now, for them in those days, pretty much everybody was a farmer. You know, they grew up around farms. They provided for themselves. And, you know, there was some exchange and such, but it wasn't that crops were produced on a massive scale like we have today. And today we're pretty far removed from from, you know, that farming culture, you know, except for we live next to Norco, but that's about it. You know, we just, we're not involved with it that same way. And yet, the concepts are very simple and good. It's a good illustration for us still today of looking at the farmer and the way that they would process these things and do the work that was necessary. It's not an exact, you know, one for one parallel. It's exactly what God does, but it's a good illustration to help us gain insight and understanding into the ways that God works. And so we're going to look at three points this morning as we look at this passage. about how God works in your life like a farmer works in his field. Now, I want to give you a little sneak preview before we get into the points to kind of let you know where we're going and really what the objective is as we look at these things this morning. First of all, like the farmer, God works in a variety of ways. The farmer does not just have one task, and that's all he does, that's all he ever does, and that's just that one thing over and over and over again. But the farmer works a variety of things, and there's a variety of responsibilities and things that need to get done. And in a similar way, God works in a variety of ways, and we'll talk a lot about that as we get into the passage. But then the other aspect that I really want to focus on and consider as we look at these verses is, like a farmer, we need to listen to God for what is right in the various situations that we face. As you go through this passage, God is giving the example of a farmer and saying, look, I taught the farmer how to do those various things. I taught the farmer how to handle those various situations. And so it's a really good example for us also, not just to understand how God works, but for us to be reminded to listen to God. ♪♪ And so God has a way of working with us individually and personally in every situation that we face. And so we need to listen to the Lord. Well, let's get into our passage now, looking at verse 23 and 24 for point number one. And here the point is, God works in seasons. As we begin to talk about the work of God, I think it's important to take some time to consider that God works in seasons in our life, that it's various things that are happening, various times that God is doing different things, very similar to that of the farmer. Check out verse 23 and 24 again. It says, "'Give ear and hear my voice, listen and hear my speech.'" Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he not keep turning, I'm sorry, does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods? So he begins this illustration really asking a question. Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Is that all the farmer does? In other words, does he only plow the field? Is that the limit of the farmer's job and the farmer's responsibility? He just turns up the soil, breaks the clods, and just keeps on doing that over and over again. And of course, the obvious answer is no. And the rest of the verses will go on to describe some other functions that the farmer does as well. That there's other things that the farmer does in the different seasons that are appropriate for the crops that he is farming. Now again, the context here is that Judah has been experiencing judgment for not listening to God. And still at this time, while Isaiah is preaching, they are still not listening because their mindset is God will not let us be destroyed. They were convinced God is the one who placed us here in the land of Israel. And God's the one who gave us the temple. He established Jerusalem. He established the temple. He promised to put his presence here. And so because of all the work that God had done already, the people really had a mindset that God will never let this place be destroyed. And so there's really no need to repent. All these threats that are being made, these announcements of judgments, we don't need to pay much attention to them because God will never do that. He will never let that happen. That was their mindset. I think the commentator Alexander McLaren captures that thought really well in this comment. He says, God had raised up and watched over the people. He had planted it in the mountain of his inheritance, and now was it going to be thrown down by the same hand which had built it up? Impossible. That's the mindset of the people of Judah. No way would God ever throw down the nation of Judah and destroy the temple and destroy Jerusalem. No way would that ever happen. And so again, that led them to the conclusion. So we don't really need to repent. We're guaranteed that these things will be established. We don't need to turn back to God. We don't need to listen to what God says because God would never do that. And so God says, you know, you need to think about the farmer, right? Think about how the farmer works. He says, give ear and listen to what I'm saying. In verse 24, does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Now think about the cycle that happens on a farm. And of course, I'm not a farmer. And so probably throughout this whole time, I'll butcher all the terms and terminology and stuff. So just forgive me for that if you're a farmer. But for the rest of us who don't know anything about farming, I know enough to fake it and you won't know any different. So you start out with the plow. You're breaking up the soil, turning it over, and you're preparing everything for planting. So that's kind of step number one, right? You prepare the soil, you break it up, you plow the field, right? Then the next phase is you plant and you're putting seeds, you're watering, you're tending, you know, the crop as it grows. And then you get to the final phase, which is the harvest. That's kind of what it's all for, right? You get to reap the benefits and collect the fruits that has grown, the crop that has come from this process. But here's what I want you to think about. Think about the next step after that. So you plow, you plant, you water, you harvest, and then what happens? Well, what happens next is you pull out the plow once again. The farmer pulls out the plow, and think about this. All that plow time that he spent working on those plants, that crop, that harvest, the things that he had planted, he spent hours and hours in the daylight, you know, in the sunlight, working hard, sweating a lot, tending to these plants and crops that he has put there. But then at the end, what does he do? He takes the plow and essentially he destroys the field. He destroys everything that was there. He destroys everything that was planted, everything that was built, everything that was there. He just wipes it out, and he starts over, turns over the soil once again. He wipes everything out. Now, we know, as you think about that whole picture, he does that so that he can plant again, and it starts over, but he Depending on where we're at in this process, we might not see what's coming next. And we can easily be like the people of Judah and think God would never wipe everything out. But here's what God's saying. Here's why he's giving this illustration. Like the farmer plows and then plants and then harvests, Israel has come to fruition. It's been established. But in their rebellion, there's a need now to kind of start over, to scrape the ground and replant. But in their minds, no, God would never do that. That's impossible. And that's why I give the point here. God works in seasons. God actually works in these kinds of seasons in our life as well. It really paints a good picture for us. That God doesn't only do one thing in your life. He doesn't only bless you or teach you or lead you or die on the cross for you. That's not the only thing that God does. And sometimes the thing that God is doing, we might consider destructive. Sometimes the thing that God is allowing, we would like question God, like, why would you allow this, God? Because we feel it's so destructive, like plowing a field that we've worked so hard on. Yesterday, I was working on a project. I had to replace a ceiling fan in our guest bedroom. As I was working on that, I was thinking about the message for today and the passage that I was looking over and here in Isaiah chapter 28. And I was thinking about how that kind of related to what I was doing. Because if you walked into that room while I'm taking apart the old one, if I'm going to replace a ceiling fan, the first thing I got to do is dismantle the one that's there and remove it. Now, if I... I dismantle it. I pull it down. I step down from the ladder and you walk in. I say, look at what great job I've already done. And you say, there's just two wires hanging out of the ceiling. It doesn't look very impressive. In fact, it's worse than when you started. It's not good. It's destructive. But you understand for the good of the room, sometimes something has to be dismantled and removed so that it can be upgraded and improved. That's just a reality for the good of the room that needs to take place. And sometimes in our lives, there are seasons where God is plowing, where he's turning things over, shaking things up, getting junk out, getting things ready for the new things that he wants to do because he works in seasons. Now, as you think about those seasons in your life, you can also break it down a little bit even more specific to think about seasons in the workplace. And in your occupation and your work life, there's different seasons where God's breaking down, where God's building up, where God is doing different works. And then you could consider some seasons perhaps within your family. Where God is breaking down and building up and planting and doing different things at different times in different seasons within your family and within your service at church. There might be different seasons or within your, you know, whatever. In the community, there might be different seasons in your, whatever you might consider in all aspects of our lives. And all of these can be going through different seasons of things that God is doing in us as he continues to work the land like a farmer and does with his. Now, what this means for us, ultimately, is that we need to listen to him because there is great variety in what God does and when God does it. And that's why he starts out in verse 23 and he says, give ear and hear my voice, listen and hear my speech. This was the problem of the nation of Judah. They would not listen to God. They wouldn't listen to what God had already written in his word, and they wouldn't listen to the prophets that God sent to call them to repentance. And that's why they're experiencing the judgment that they're currently in. For us, as we consider these things, I would encourage you to understand that God works in your life like a farmer, which means he works in seasons. And that means you need to listen. You need to give ear and hear the voice of the Lord. That you can't try to live the Christian life by a list of rules. Well, this is all I got to do. You know, read that check, read that check, pray that prayer check. There's not a formula. Of course, there are basics and there's simple elements that need to be incorporated in our walk with God. But don't ever think that you can come up with a list or a formula or a procedure and that's everything that you need for the rest of your life. No, really, when it comes down to it, what you need for the rest of your life is to be connected to God and listening to him. What is the Lord saying to you? He's going to be working different types of things in different types of seasons in the workplace for you. What is the Lord saying to you about those seasons? And some of those seasons are brought on by our own disregard for God's word. Some of those seasons are brought on by God just wanting to do something different, to do something new, to do something great. What is God speaking to you about your family and the season that you're in as a family? Again, some of those seasons can be brought on by ourselves as we disregard God's word, but sometimes God just wants to do something new. He's doing a work, and so he brings seasons into our life. Seasons of joy, seasons of sorrow, seasons of prosperity, and seasons of great lack. There's different seasons that we go through. Different time periods where God is working on certain things in certain areas. In Isaiah chapter 29, we're not going to get into that, but Isaiah 28, 29, 30, and 31 all really go together. It's a block that all fits together as God is calling out to his people to repentance. And at this time, the nation of Assyria is coming down into the land, and Judah is threatened, and they're fearful, and so they're looking to Egypt. Egypt. to save them and protect them from Assyria, all the while disregarding and refusing to listen to what God is speaking to them from his word and from the prophets. And in Isaiah chapter 29, God goes into a little bit of a discourse saying, look, you can't expect me to keep on speaking if you refuse to listen. And he says, you're going to go into a season of blindness, of deafness, where you can't hear even if you want to, if you continue to refuse to listen to me. And this is important for us to understand that God, God reserves that right. If he is speaking to us and we're saying, no, thank you. I don't want to listen. He reserves the right to say, okay, well, I'm not going to speak to you then. And I'm going to let you go for a season and see how it is. You go ahead and live your life without me. Live your life on your wisdom with the protection that you think you can arrange for yourself. And let's see how that goes. That's the warning that he gives to Judah. It's a warning that is appropriate for us as well. God works in seasons in our life. And we need to learn to be connected to God, to listen to him and respond in each of those things. to work with him and not against him in the season that is happening in our lives. God doesn't just do one thing. There are some people who live in sin convinced that God doesn't bring judgment. You know, God is love, and so he's loving, and he gives blessings, and so I can continue just doing whatever I want. That was the nation of Judah. Here's what you need to understand. God doesn't only love and bless and do good things. He also is holy, and he will bless. Bring judgment for sin. He will deal with disobedience. He won't put up with it. He doesn't just do one thing. God does many things. And so we need to be listening to him, talking to him, hearing from him, understanding what he wants to do in the season that we are in. Well, moving on into verse 25 and 26, here we have point number two, and that is God uses unique methods. God uses unique methods. This is like another level of variation. Not only is there different seasons where sometimes there's building, sometimes there's destroying, sometimes there's planting, and sometimes there's harvesting. Not only is there those different seasons, but in the midst of those seasons, there's also great variety in the way that God does each of those things. He uses unique methods. Look at verse 25 and 26 again. It says, Again, looking at the farmer, he doesn't just plow all day. That's not just his only job. That is, all day, every day, all he does is plow. No, once the land is prepared, well, he goes on to plant. But as he plants, what the Lord is pointing out here is he doesn't plant every crop exactly the same. When he begins to plant, he plants differently depending on what he is planting. And so he gives the example of black cumin as well as cumin. Now, these are similar, closely related, but also a little bit different. And also a lot of scholars debate on what exactly herbs and spices and such that are being referred to here. But It's generally understood the black cumin and the cumin were sown by hand. That is, they were cast onto the field. So after you plowed the field and, you know, broke it all up and got it all ready, then you basically have a bag of seed here and you would cast the seed onto the soil. You can understand that's something probably you've done if you've ever seeded a lawn. You cast, you just throw it out there, and you can understand it's pretty random where it lands. It kind of goes in the general direction where you throw it, but there's wind and there's how hard you throw it. And so it just kind of goes different places. It lands different places. It's not that specific. In contrast to that, he goes on to talk about the wheat, the barley, and the spelt. Now these are not cast into the soil. Instead, what they would do for these is they would be running down the lines and they would have a seed drill. And so basically they would dig a hole in the furrow. They would put the seed in there and then the plow coming behind them would cover up the seed with the soil. And think about that contrast for a minute. You have the casting of the seed where the seed just falls where it falls. It just goes wherever. And you really can't get much more different than that when you say, right here, see that spot right there, right there? That's where I want the seed. Put the seed right there. That's very different, right? Radically different. You can't get much more different than that. It just lands where it lands or it's right there specifically. Different seed is planted differently. different ways. And again, if you've ever thrown out seed on your lawn, you just kind of cast it. Or at least that's the way I do it. Maybe I do it wrong. That could be, I don't know. But I don't dig holes and then plant seed for grass. I just cast it. But think about it this way. If I wanted to plant some avocado trees, would I just cast the avocado seeds? It wouldn't be very effective, right? It wouldn't work because it wouldn't supply what was needed for that seed. Every seed has different requirements. different environment for what it needs to grow. It's unique. It's specific to that seed. And if you would just stop and think for a minute, the great variety of different kinds of crops and seeds, you can begin to understand there's a lot of complexity here. Each one has its own properties and its own unique needs. Each one is planted differently. And this is what the unique methods for the work that I'm doing appropriate to the fruit that I'm looking to receive. God does unique things. There's great variety in the way that God works. Now, as I mentioned yesterday, I was working on the project of replacing a ceiling fan, and it was really incredible, absolutely wonderful, because this whole project, I was preparing for it. I was thinking about it all week. I Had the box there for a few days. I was just kind of like waiting for the right time to do it. Okay, I got some time. Let's do it. I bring all my tool bag into the room so I can begin to work on it. I ended up needing one tool for the whole thing. One screwdriver. That's all I needed the whole time. That's all I used was one screwdriver, dismantling the whole thing, taking it down, putting up the new one. Now, again, I could have done it wrong. So maybe I needed more than that. I just didn't know it. But one screwdriver, I mean, that's really about my speed and almost like one tool too many for me to be able to handle the project. But that's the way that I like it. That's not the way that God works. He doesn't just have one tool. That's it. He only does one thing, one way. God has endless ways. tools, endless variety, unique methods for every individual, for every specific situation. He has the perfect tool for the job. You know what it's like to have, you know, a job to do and you don't really have the right tool, but you kind of, you know, just kind of try to make it work. But then when you get the right tool for the job and it's just like, boom, easy, fast, quick, you God has the right tools for the job. He has the very specific and unique. It's a lot bigger than a Home Depot if you could look at God's inventory of tools. It's endless variety. Now, again, what that means, though, is we try to live out this life that God has set before us, understanding that God uses unique methods and he has this endless variety in ways that he does things. Here's what it means for us. We need to listen to him. Notice verse 26 once again. It says, So God instructs the farmer in right judgment. His God teaches him. How does the farmer know how to handle each seed appropriate to those specifications? How does the farmer know all that? God says, I taught him that. Looking at humanity as a whole, I taught you guys that. how to farm corn and wheat and cumin and whatever else we grow. God says, I taught you that. I showed you those specifications. I showed you what to do. It was my instruction that provided that for you. And so again, like the farmer, we need to learn to listen to God. I would ask you to consider, what is God teaching you? What is God teaching you? In the things that you face today, as you look back to this last week, as you think about the things that you're going to face this week, what is it that God is teaching you about this season of your life? About this season in your workplace, or this season in your family, or this season in your church, or whatever it might be. What is God teaching you? And then on top of that, what kind of methods does he want you to use today As you face these situations, as you have those discussions, as you handle and encounter those things, what is it that God wants to teach you so that you have the specific criteria for, well, each type of seed and each type of fruit that God is seeking to develop? I'm sure you've heard the saying, when you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Have you heard that saying? I'm sure you know what it means if you haven't heard it, right? If I'm a hammer, every problem I see, it's like, well, I know how to deal with that. I just pound on it because I'm a hammer, right? And sometimes we apply what we think is our maybe best features or best characteristics or what we've seen work in the past. And we just automatically try to use what we know to fix or deal with or resolve whatever situation we face. But that's not the way that God works. And it's not the way that God wants you to work. He wants you to be like the farmer, right? Don't just say, well, I know how to plant seed. Look at that seed and present that seed to the Lord and say, Lord, how do you want me to handle this seed? Now, I'm speaking very generally. I'm carrying on this illustration of the farmer. And here's what I would like for you to do. That is for you to spend some time with God and find out how these things apply to you specifically. I'm talking about seeds. I'm talking about situations. I'm talking about challenging, you know, conversations and discussions. But for you, there's specifics there that God wants to teach you how to handle different areas of your life. There's different seasons that are happening in your life, and God wants to speak to you about those things and teach you how to use the tools that he has to handle those situations and circumstances. God uses unique methods in your life, but he also gives you unique methods for the things that you face. Now you could think, well, this is the kind of dad I am and that's what dads do. And so I yell at my kids because that's what dads do. That's the kind of dad I am. Maybe God wants to change things up and teach you how to hug your kids. I don't know. I'm not trying to tell you what the Lord says. I'm just saying you need to spend some time with the Lord and don't just automatically think, well, I already know how to be a dad. I already know how to be a husband. Rick told me how to be a husband, so I already know how to be a husband. There's unique methods that God wants to use in your relationship with your family. What is God teaching you about that? How is God teaching you to handle your boss or your employees or your co-workers? You could think, well, this is the kind of employee I am. It's the kind of employee I've always been. It's the kind of employee I was taught to be, and so this is how I handle these situations. Or you You could understand, you know, God doesn't just always do the same thing the same way every time. Maybe he needs to teach me something new about the things that I'm doing, about the things that I'm facing. Maybe you're very comfortable with giving a firm rebuke. And so whenever you have to rebuke, you know how to do it. Yeah, I just give a firm rebuke. Tell them how it is. That's how it is. They better shape up. But maybe God wants to teach you some compassion and some gentleness. Or maybe it's the other way around. Maybe you, I don't like confrontation. I don't like to deal with stuff. And maybe in this season, in this situation, God wants to give you a unique method to show firmness in that encounter. There's great variety. And that requires then that we listen to God, that we hear from God, that we have a real connection to God. In Isaiah chapter 30, I'm not going to jump there, but The nation of Judah, in this situation where Assyria is coming down and they feel threatened, God says, they're seeking counsel, but they're not seeking counsel from me. And that's a great danger in our lives, where we seek counsel. We understand, hey, I don't know how to deal with this situation, so I ask everybody else, but don't forget to talk to God and to invite God to speak to you about those situations that you face. In Isaiah chapter 30, verse 1, God says the nation of Judah is adding sin to sin by not seeking God for counsel. It's not just, hey, you know, it'd be really a little bit better for you if you sought God's counsel, if you listened, you know, to him or gave him an opportunity to speak to you. It's a little bit better for you. It's sin to not seek God's counsel for It's sin to not look to hear from God. And now God may speak to you and say, here's what you need to do. Go seek counsel. And that's okay. When God tells you that, you need to. It's not that we're not supposed to talk to one another or to have wise counselors, but we need to seek God first. And it's sin when we don't seek God first. It's wrong. We need to let God speak to to us about the particular season that we're in and situation that we're facing. What is it that God is teaching you? In every season, God wants to teach you. You haven't figured it all out yet. You haven't learned it all yet. In every season that you're in, in your workplace, in your family, wherever it might be, in every season of plowing or planting or reaping, there's things that God wants to teach you. And within those seasons, all the encounters that you have and the circumstances that you face and the challenges that you find, God wants to teach you. What is the Lord teaching you about the things in your life? Because he uses unique methods. You can't just take what worked last time or what worked for cousin Sally or somebody else and this is what they said to do and so that's what I do. But what is God speaking to you about those things? God's going to shake things up. Think about it this way. If I asked you for a piece of tape, how many different kinds of tape could you offer me in response to that? Now, I know typically we think duct tape is the only tape. It's the answer for everything. If you need tape, it's duct tape. Here it is. But realistically, you understand that's not really the best tape for every situation. If you're going to be painting and so you just need to tape up some plastic, you probably don't want to use duct tape. it's gonna leave some marks. It's gonna pull up some paint. It's gonna mess up the work that you're doing. Maybe in this thing that you need tape for is, you know, you need some insulation or maybe you don't want it to be bold and gray. Maybe you want it to be clear so it kind of blends in. It's not so visible. Maybe you want it to be Or maybe you want ducks printed across this tape that you're applying to whatever it is that you're applying to. And so there's tape for that. I mean, you go to the tape section at the hardware store or at Target or whatever, there's so much variety in different kinds of tape that essentially all does the same thing, right? Now, if we can come up with such great variety with tape, how much more do you think God can come up with great variety for all the different things that he's called us to do in this life? You see, God... wants to do new things in different ways, things that we've never thought of before, things that we've never imagined before, and it requires that we listen to him and let God teach us how to handle the situations that we face. Listen to him. God uses unique methods. Well, finally, verses 27 through 29, we have point number three. Here the point is, God applies appropriate force. Here, as we continue to look at the farmer, now we're talking about the harvest and how that fruit is processed as it's brought in from the field. Verse 27, "'For the black cumin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cumin. But the black cumin is beaten out with a stick and the cumin with a rod. Bread flour must be ground. Therefore, he does not thresh it forever.' breaking it with his cartwheel or crush it with his horse spin. Verse 29, this also comes from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance. Again, think about the cycle for the farmer. The land is prepared, it's plowed, it's turned over, and then the seed is sown. He tends to it, he waters it, but at the end of that season, now it's time to harvest the The crop. And here, God is making the point, the farmer in the harvest does not harvest the crop all exactly the same. There's now more additional variations as he's harvesting the crop. There's different methods. And in each method, it's a different amount of force, a different application of force that's appropriate for, well, whatever it is that has been harvested. And so he gives the example again of the black cumin or the cumin or the wheat. Now, as he talks about these different types of methods in verse 27 and 28, he describes four types of threshing. All of these could be kind of like lump summed up into this idea of threshing, but he gives four different types of threshing. The first is the stick or the rod. Now he says, look, the black cumin and the cumin, they're not threshing. threshed with a cartwheel or a threshing sledge. We'll talk about that in a second. But just a rod. And it's really as simple as it sounds. It's a rod. It's a stick. And this type of plant, well, it doesn't require a whole lot of force. With just a stick, you can kind of just tap it, tap it, tap it, tap it, and beat out the fruit. Now, I know this whole time I'm saying fruit. I don't actually know if that's the right word, and you can correct me later. Again, I'm not a farmer, and if you didn't know any better, you know, I'm sorry I ruined it for you, and you thought I was an expert. But you can talk to Harvey afterwards. He'll clue you in on all the farming terms that I'm messing up, but you're getting the picture, right? You're beating out, breaking away the chaff, breaking away the rest of the plant, and you're ending up with the kernel, you know, the good stuff. But for... Some things, all that's needed is a stick. Now, then he goes on to talk about a threshing sledge. A threshing sledge are these strong planks that are rough on the bottom with rocks or iron. And it was used, you know, horses would draw it across the gathered crop. And it would break apart the crop that they had brought in. Again, separating the fruit from the chaff, the wheat from the chaff, whatever it might be. That was another method. Another method was a cartwheel. And that was basically, like you can think about, not doing cartwheels, but, you know, a cart. And the wheels of the cart would basically be kind of like saw blades, you know, like a skill saw blade, where it's got that sharp edge. And so what it would do is it would splice up and cut away and break down the crop that it was ran over. And then the last method was treading, which is basically just having an animal walk around, walk around, walk around, and it's breaking up the different elements of the crop. Each one of these is used in a variety of ways for different kinds of crops. And what the Lord is pointing out here is that the farmer uses the appropriate method for the appropriate crop. Because if you use the threshing sledge on the cumin, it would destroy it. It's too gentle to be able to handle that. And so all you need is a stick, just enough pressure to just deal with it. And it doesn't need more than that. This is the way that God works. Now, sometimes he needs a threshing sledge or a cartwheel, you know, a heavy cart to just kind of plow over the crop or the things in your life to separate the fruit, to bring out the fruit. Sometimes he just needs a little tap. All right, got it. Again, I was thinking through this as I was working on that ceiling fan yesterday. My dad's voice echoes in my head when I work on these kinds of projects. All those times for many years, my dad would say, don't force it. Because something doesn't fit quite right, my tendency is just make it fit. A little bit of force and, you know, all right, it's good in there. I was thinking about that because as I was pulling apart the one that was already there, that was from a previous resident, the majority of the screws were all stripped out because they applied too much force when they were putting it in. I remember working with Pastor Dylan here at the church a while back. You guys remember that cabinet that we used to have in the bathroom outside? Well, that cabinet Dylan and I put together. And as we were putting that together, working on it, Dylan handed me a cordless drill. I think it might have been the first time I've ever held a cordless power tool, you know? And so I had this cordless drill. He's, all right, all right, you got to put this screw in here. I was like, all right, I'm all excited. And so I take it, I put the screw and I, and I take it all the way through. I push the screw all the way out the back of the whole thing. The screw falls out the back of the unit. I pull up and now there's just a big hole. I looked at Dylan. He looked at me. He took the drill back from me. He changed the settings on there. He handed it back to me. He said, I jerry-proofed it. You can't do that again. You won't be able to apply that much force. That's kind of the way that I am. I like to apply force when things, you know, aren't working quite right. So when it comes to God, though, he has the correct adjustment on the power tool that he's using so that he applies exactly the amount of force that's needed for the situation at hand. In our lives, we experience force. We experience pressure. We experience difficulty, affliction, tribulation. Some of that is our doing. For example, the nation of Judah has Assyria coming down on them. They're freaked out about it. There's this force being applied, right? Well, that was their doing because they insisted on rebelling against God. But don't make the mistake that that's the only thing that God does and that's the only way that God works. That's Job's friends who said, well, you look at all this affliction. There must be sin in your life. No, there's great variety. Sometimes horrible affliction happens and there's no sin. It's not always the same, but sometimes it is up to us. For the nation of Judah, it was up to them. And I like what J. Vernon McGee has to say about this. He says, the individual or nation is actually determines the character of the judgment, which is to fall upon them. In other words, if you are hard and resist God, you are a hard grain. You're a hard nut to crack, and the judgment is going to be severe for you. Here's the question, really. Are you listening to God? What does it take for God to get your attention, for you to be corrected by God? Does it take just a little tap with a Remember this? I want to fix that in your life. Like, all right, God, yes. Amen. I'm responding to your word. Does it take just a tap? Because I mean, that's really what's best, right? Who wants more severe than that? But sometimes in our rebellion against God, in our disregard for his word, in our preferring our thoughts and our will and our ways over his ways, God has to step up the threshing a little bit more and maybe pull in the threshing sledge. Sometimes you feel like you've been run over by a truck because, well, God decided, you know, I need to run this guy over by a truck. Now, again, not every time someone gets run over by a truck means that the, you know, we're hard-hearted and rebellious that caused that. But we can bring upon more severe pressure, more severe force by our resistance to God's word. Or if the nation of Judah would have listened when God spoke, they would have saved themselves so much. In a similar way, we have the opportunity. We get to really kind of negotiate with God how severe the threshing is. There will be tribulation. There will be threshing either way. But how severe How easily will you respond to God? Now, we will always be convinced that God doesn't need to be as firm with us as he is. No matter how, even just a tap, it's like, God, I didn't deserve that. I think we'll always be convinced because we don't realize how stubborn we are and how hard our heart is. We need to be soft. We need to listen to God. Again, notice verse 29 says, He says, this also comes from the Lord of hosts who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance, who taught the farmer how to thresh the different crops in the different ways. God said, that's from me. I taught you that because I'm wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance. This is your God. He's wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance. Are you listening? In the situations that you face, especially, most especially, I would say, in those areas where force is being applied, where affliction is taking place, are you listening to God? Cooperating with him in that threshing instead of fighting against what God wants to do. God applies appropriate force. He will. He'll apply the appropriate force. And so if you force him, he will be forceful. Or if you respond as he speaks... he will be less forceful as he brings you into alignment to his will. Judah required full destruction because they insisted on rebelling against God. What will you require? God works like a farmer and whatever it's going to take to separate the wheat from the chaff, the farmer's going to do in the same way. Whatever it's going to take to bring forth the fruit from your life that God wants to bring forth, he's going to do it. And if it requires some very severe forceful threshing, He's okay with that, but it's a little bit easier for you if you will listen to him and let him direct you in what he wants. God works in seasons. There's different things that God is doing in your life in different times. Nothing's the same. It's not always repeated. Sometimes when we're in the midst of a season, it feels like it's always going to be this way. It's a season. And maybe God's plowing right now, or maybe God's threshing right now. Maybe God's planting right now. It's a season. And there's gonna be a new season. And then there's gonna be a new season after that and a new season after that and a new season after that. Maybe you don't like that thought so much. But God works in seasons. You can't run away from that. It's the way that he works. And he uses unique methods in each of those seasons. And so maybe you face a similar challenge today that you faced in the past, but God doesn't wanna handle it the same way. He wants to do something different. We need to learn to listen to God, to seek God, to hear from him. And also remember that God applies appropriate force. And if we run from him, if we resist his ways, he'll do what's necessary. He's going to get our attention. He'll bring the threshing that's required to bring forth the fruit that he desires. Let's pray. God, I pray for each one of us. Lord, again, as I shared, Lord, these things really we've been looking at very generally, God, talking about the illustration, but Lord, there is very specific detail that Lord, specific names and faces and places and situations that are happening in each of our lives that you want to apply these things to and you want to work in and help us to learn. I pray, God, that you would bring those things to our attention. Lord, give us real clarity on what it is that you are saying in each of those things and help us, God, to not resist you and your voice and your word and your instruction, but Lord, to work with you in the work that you're doing in our field, to join with you in that work and not fight you in it. Lord, I pray that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit, that we might have clear insight from you and specific application of these things. Lord, that we would allow you to do the work in us that you desire to do, because what you desire to do is for our benefit. It's for our good to have an abundant crop. Lord, I pray that you would cause us to be fruitful. as we look to you, as we trust you, and as we listen to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.