Corona Devo 839
Passed down from his Grampa, my husband has a green thumb and so we have a number of "unique" bushes and plants growing in and around our yard and most of them have an intended (or hoped-for) edible outcome, from elderberry bushes to mulberries and mint leaves, to a veggie garden lining the side of the house.
So, one day when I was making ranch dressing, I asked our daughter to go and collect some chives and she happily went out the door and came back shortly with some chive stems, which I diced and threw in the milky mix for supper later.
As we dined, I noticed that the ranch dressing wasn't very "ranchy" and I asked our daughter to review her pre-supper order-of-events. We soon realized that she had cut something else ("I thought they looked like chives, Mommy"). We all had a laugh (no one got sick), and I pulled out a bottle of ranch from the pantry to pour over fresh scoops of salad. We will both be more careful the next time she "harvests".
It wasn't all her fault. She's young. She did not do it maliciously. And this is how we learn things in life: by trial and error, becoming aware of our shortcoming, and then from instruction that (hopefully) leads to wisdom for next time.
Sound familiar?
It should. These are the (daily) ups and downs, attempts-and-failures, forgiveness, and gained-wisdom that we plod through each day as we seek to follow the Lord and walk in His ways.
The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. (23) Great is his faithfulness; his mercies are new every morning. ~Lamentations 3:22-23
Sin. It actually is our fault, but most of the time we don't set out to make it happen. We fall to it. We are lured to it. We compromise to it. Maybe we are "young" in our faith or weak in our resistance to the devil and his schemes. We most-often do not "mean" to sin maliciously. But, because we are human with human frailty and human tendencies and human weaknesses...we fall. We fail. We make mistakes.
And God is there. To rectify things, to steady the situation, and to teach wisdom for the next time.
He (at times) brings discipline, but His heart for us is driven by His great love for us and His intention to impart wisdom on us to "do better next time", and to become more like Him.
It's not that he never wants us to "gather chives again", it's that He wants us to have learned-a-lesson and to have learned to correctly identify chives because we misidentified them the time before. Faith (like life) is a continual process of learning from our experiences and seeking/striving/persisting to be more like Christ in our next attempt.
So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. ~2 Corinthians 3:18
It is God's Word that reveals His ways to us:
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. (17) God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. ~2 Timothy 3:16-17
It is God’s Word that also provides examples of others, just like us who have traveled similar paths of (up and down) learning to be more like Christ.
Elisha's story about the young man who went out into the field to gather herbs and came back with a pocketful of (poisonous) wild gourds is another great example of the trial of error of us as God's children and of our Father's great love in "setting things straight" and intending for us to learn from the process.
Elisha now returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. One day as the group of prophets was seated before him, he said to his servant, “Put a large pot on the fire, and make some stew for the rest of the group.”
(39) One of the young men went out into the field to gather herbs and came back with a pocketful of wild gourds. He shredded them and put them into the pot without realizing they were poisonous. (40) Some of the stew was served to the men. But after they had eaten a bite or two they cried out, “Man of God, there’s poison in this stew!” So they would not eat it. (41) Elisha said, “Bring me some flour.” Then he threw it into the pot and said, “Now it’s all right; go ahead and eat.” And then it did not harm them. ~2 Kings 4:38-41
It wasn't all the young man's fault. He was young. He did not do it maliciously. And this is how we (too) learn things in life: by trial and error, by then becoming aware of our shortcoming, and then from instruction that (hopefully) leads to wisdom for next time.
Elisha (the man of God) was there. To rectify things, to steady the situation, and to teach wisdom for the next time.
God and His Word are here. To rectify our mistakes, to steady our situations, and to teach us wisdom for the next time.
Perhaps we have picked a wild gourd of sin lately. However we happened to get a "pocketful" of it is water under the bridge, but the Bible reminds us today that anything not of God is poisonous to the "health" of our faith journey as Believers. Let's accept God's anecdote (His Word), and may it grant us wisdom for today and for our next "harvest" in Him.
Blessings,
sarah
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