Reading… and Thinking

When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil? When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field? His God instructs him and teaches him the right way. Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over cummin; caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a stick. Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. Though he drives the wheels of his threshing cart over it, his horses do not grind it. All this also comes from the LORD Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.

– Isaiah 28:24-29 (NIV)

Over and over, God expresses His frustration with Israel’s waywardness. He pronounces that He will punish them, and bring on them the just reward for their unfaithfulness. But over and over, He promises that He will always leave a remnant.

In this passage we see the purpose of God’s chastening. He has no interest in obliteration of His people. However, He can’t let them go on heedlessly until they perish.

He plows, breaking up the soil. But the objective is to prepare the ground for a fruitful crop, not to go on and on beating up the soil. When there is fruit, it has to be threshed (that is, the useful parts separated from the useless). But the objective is to gather in a crop, not to grind the fruit to dust.

Similarly, God chastens and disciplines us. If we are wild, he will plow us. We won’t find it pleasant. But afterward, He will plant His seed in us, and we will find ourselves bearing fruit for Him. And that will be wonderful!

But He’s not done. The figure changes, and now we’re the fruit instead of the soil. Everything that’s in us isn’t useful. So He works to separate out what is useless. We may not find this process all that pleasant either. Jesus uses a similar figure when he says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:1-2)

At first it may seem to us as though God is punishing us for being fruitful! But that’s not it at all. He sees in us the potential of what we can do, what we can be, and He works with us to get us there. He is, in fact, a wonderful, loving God, to work with us so diligently.

Remember Jesus: “Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.” (Hebrews 5:8) There was no punishment at all in this – Jesus was perfect! But still, trials and sufferings were needed to teach him, discipline him, bring out the best in him. We shouldn’t think that we need any less. Quite the contrary! Fortunately, our God knows when to use a threshing sledge, and when to use a small stick. He won’t give us discipline that crushes us. Remember, He has no interest in crushing us – just in bringing out the best.

So when trials come in our lives, we should ask: What weed is the Lord trying to plow out, so that I can bear fruit? What chaff is he trying to separate from the good fruit that I’ve produced? He’s doing this because He loves me, and wants the best for me. “All this also comes from the LORD Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.”