Psalms 9:1-2;13-14
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
13 Be gracious to me, O Lord!
See my affliction from those who hate me,
O you who lift me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may recount all your praises,
that in the gates of the daughter of Zion
I may rejoice in your salvation.
Why I believe? This is such a profound question that it cannot be nearly summed up in one passage. For me, my belief can be seen through the eyes of a gardener. In the eyes of a gardener you have the preparation with the seed, the plant, the fruit, and the pruning.
Matthew 13:3-9
And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears,[a] let him hear.”
I want to start out with the seed. In the parable about the seed, Christ talks about several different grounds and soils, which the seed has been sowed. I’ve been able to see that the seed that is been planted or sowed is the seed of the Holy Spirit. But I also recognize that in me I have all of the soils that Christ has spoken. In each different part of my journey the soil has changed.
There are different times in my life that I’ve had good soil there are different times in my life I had rocky soil and there’s different times in my life that I have had thorns as well. But it is when the seed finds the optimal soil and right time to produce a plant. This has happened several times in my life where of the seed has found some good soil, but it also has landed on some of the troubled soil as well.
So what I believe is that the seed that is the Holy Spirit never changes in us, but as we allow the Spirit to move in us the soil with change.
As in gardening you have to continuously and constantly check the pH of the soil because the soil that may not be optimal for this year’s crop. The soil needs to be adjusted for the next crop. So what I believe is God is utilizing his Spirit to work in me constantly to cultivate me constantly to change me into the person who he wants me to be and to give him the glory and show his presence in my life to be a reflection of his life.
An example that can illustrate this seed growing when it’s optimal was revealed to me from a visit that I had with a friend last week. Last week, a dear friend of mine showed me one of his pets. He showed me a tadpole that he had rescued from a small little pond. So as we were conversing he informed me that this tadpole was two years old. This knowledge baffled me because in my limited perception as being a scientist, I thought that tadpoles only lasted for a small amount of time. But I understood that tadpoles will only change will transform into a frog when the conditions are right. This tadpole is two years old. This tadpole is approximately 4 to 5 inches long. This was a complete intriguing for me. For my 39 years, I had some new information that I’ve had assume were true.
With this new knowledge I have an enlightened view of absolutes. The seed, as with the tadpole, will find the right time to prepare, mature, and produce a plant at the correct time in which it is ready. The seed of the Holy Spirit will activate and produce when it Optimal. This can be two months, five years, 10 years, or 70 years. No matter how long the seed is there God will allow the seed to mature and transform and metamorphosis into the new creation in which He has ready for us.
This is what I believe that God is in the changing and growing of each individual at the each individual’s time no matter what time do restraints or limits we placed on Him. Be blessed.
Lynden McGriff