Trust - Even When It Doesn't Make Sense

Yesterday, my daughter Abigail and I were driving on the western side of Caroline County, Virginia. Along a rural country road, we travelled between what felt like mile after mile of corn fields. Beautiful corn stalks, blowing in the breeze, field after field after field. I pointed out the window and said - "Abigail, look at all that corn." Her reply, "Did somebody have to bend over and plant all of that?" I said, "No, baby, they have all kinds of great machinery now that make it easier for the farmer to be able to plant his fields." She then said - "But how does he water it all." My response, "Baby - farming is really an act of faith. He plows the ground and then he plants the seed - but he has to trust God for the rain."

It's awesome the things that we can learn by just observing the day to day events in our lives. Farmers are amazing to me. They invest in a field that promises them nothing. They believe in a product that lies dormant beneath the ground. They prepare for a harvest that they can not guarantee. They faithfully go out and work fields, even when the return is unknown. They do everything that they can to insure that they will have sufficient in the end. And yet, their are variables that they cannot control. No amount of work on their part can insure sufficient rain, sufficient sunshine, lack of storm damage or destruction by flood. They really don't know about the fluctuating changes that could occur. No - they just do their part and they have to trust God for the rest.

How many times have I screamed at the heavens - "God this just doesn't make any sense. What are you trying to do? What is your plan?" You probably have to. I mean, we plowed the field. We planted the seed. We seemed to do everything right. We followed the Farmer's Almanac. We planted at the right time. We've done all we know to do - and now Lord - where's the rain. Where's the growth. I don't seen any green sprouts bursting through the surface out in my field. Did I misplant? Did I do something wrong? Am I not the farmer I thought I was?

Of late, in midst of all my questions, I've been hearing a voice coming back to me. It's sweet and gentle - not harsh or rude. I haven't gotten the "How dare you question me?" routine that sometimes I've probably deserved. Instead, I've heard the words of an old Sunday School lesson which are really the words of Jesus from His Sermon on the Mount. "Consider the lilies of the field - they don't labor - they don't make clothing and yet have you ever seen anything arrayed as beautifully as them. Consider the birds of the air - they don't sow - they don't reap - they don't have a barn or a bank account and yet God feeds them. Aren't you more to God than birds and lilies."

Trust is such a tough lesson to learn. In our modern world, we're taught that if we are going to make it - if we are going to survive, it is going to be based on our own abilities, our own merit. I am not an advocate of the welfare system. We have too many who are constantly waiting and believing that someone should bail them out and God should be their sugar-daddy in the sky. We have too many preachers preaching a prosperity gospel that is no more biblical than pigs are aeronautical engineers. BUT - Jesus did tell us that we should not be so consumed with day-to-day concerns that we miss the big picture. Don't get so caught up in what you will eat, what you will drink, what will you wear, where will you live because He knows what you have need up before you even ask.

And so today, I'd like to propose a modern day parable. Consider the corn farmer - he plows his field - he insures that the land is prepared with necessary fertilizers and nutrients. He goes to the grain supply house and he purchases sufficient seed to plant his field. He sends out the tractor, pulling the seed spreader and he drives in the late spring sun throughout his field spreading the seed. He has done his part. There's really nothing else that He can do. He returns his equipment to the barn and he simply is forced to trust. Will the rain come? I trust God. Will too much rain come? I trust God. Will the sun shine enough or will there be a drought? I don't know but I trust God. Would if a tornado destroys my field? I don't know but I trust God. Does farming make sense? I don't know but people are counting on the grain that I provide. Somewhere someone is preparing a pot to boil the ears of corn that I will produce. Somewhere someone is pulling out the butter and the black pepper and the salt and their about to get that greasy corn on the cob face that looks gross but tastes so good. And so I'm not sure if it makes sense or not - but I trust God - even when it doesn't make sense.

Some of you as you read this are going through things that just don't make sense. I wish I could tell you all the answers that you're seeking because the truth is, I need some too. But since I don't have the answers, I am left to return to the one who knows the end from the beginning, the one in whom all truth originates and in whom there is no shadow of turning. In Christ I place my trust - and in Him today you can lean and trust even when it makes no sense to do so!

Love all of you - hope you have a great weekend - until next time - I TRUST GOD! --- RP