Saturday, August 7, 2021

"Statement of Fact" -2

 "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." (John 4:35 KJV)

  "Let all that I am praise the LORD. O LORD my God, how great you are! You are robed with honor and majesty. You are dressed in a robe of light. You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens; you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds. You make the clouds your chariot; you ride upon the wings of the wind. The winds are your messengers; flames of fire are your servants." (Psalm 104:1-4 NLT)

 Long story short: It's a God thing! Maybe, therefore, there is doubt; sometimes, therefore, there is wait; these are men things! We live by a whole different set of rules, because it is what we do and how we see things; but God's ways cannot be determined by our ways, because if we could do it on our own, then it isn't God's way getting done!

 I know, you probably don't have a clue of what I am trying to say, because I can hardly understand it myself. But, it really doesn't take too much effort on our part to mess things up, as soon as we start setting timelines, or routine practices, or making up a schedule of how things get done. If you see an open door, you take as your opportunity to go through it; if you have a chance to pray over someone, you don't say, Let's get together later for prayer! 

 This isn't really all that complicated to comprehend; but it sure is very difficult to follow! Do you notice that there is a question mark after, "and then cometh harvest?"? Why is that a question, if it takes four months for the harvest, since that is commonly how it works? Man, O man, if I had a dollar for every time I counted on something to happen, but got disappointed that it did not! 

 Matthew Henry gives it a little kick down the field, saying, "They would have him to eat, v.31. "Eat!" saith he, "I have other work to do, that is more needful; look what crowds of Samaritans are coming out of the town over the fields that are ready to receive the gospel;" probably there were many now in view. People's forwardness to hear the word is a great excitement to ministers' diligence and liveliness in preaching it." 

 I think my mom would have used a very popular saying, "Strike while the iron is hot!" What if I just stayed at in my chair? What if I did not raise my hand? When you hear His voice, it is time to listen; when He says move, it is time to move! But, when you see that He is working, it is time to go to work...

"So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!" For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. As God's partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God's kindness and then ignore it. For God says, "At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you." Indeed, the "right time" is now. Today is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 5:16 - 6:2 NLT)  

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