by Joni Eareckson Tada
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11
In February, you might see farmers on their tractors, out in last year’s hayfields and cornfields, furrowing the soil. There is nothing like the sweet, musty, wet scent of soil tilled deep by the plow. When the tractor passes over the dirt, it cuts a yawning channel in the field, turning over that rich, dark earth, getting it ready to receive fresh seed, water, and sun.
I’m reminded of the old Scottish preacher Samuel Rutherford, who wrote, “Why should I start at the plough of my Lord, that maketh deep furrows on my soul? I know He is no idle husbandman, He purposeth a crop!”*
This may be a season in your life when you are being furrowed. The Spirit of God is passing over your soul, churning up channels for new seed, the water of the Word, and the warmth of the Son. It is God who is heaven-bent on producing a crop in your life, a beautiful harvest of righteousness.
Dear God, I want a rich harvest in my life. I truly do! I want to bear fruit for You during my time on earth. But I need Your grace when the plow cuts deep, when familiar things change and spring seems long in coming. Bring forth Your life in my life today.
*Samuel Rutherford, The Loveliness of Christ (Moscow, Ida.: Community Christian Ministries, 1990), 10.
Taken from A Spectacle of Glory
Joni Eareckson Tada
Copyright © 2016
Published in Print by Zondervan, Grand Rapids