THE HEDGE: Kentucky-Fried Vacation
BT Staff
We hit the road this past month for vacation in eastern Kentucky. I was reminded again of how God displays His glory in His creation. “For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made…” said Paul in Rom. 1:20 (ESV). Creation reveals the glory of the Creator — His eternal power and divine nature shine forth. But that’s not all of Rom. 1:20. The last bit says, “So they are without excuse,” which leads into verse 21: “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” How sad a reality this is, but how great a Savior who would come and rescue us from our darkness! “All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name” (Psalm 66:4). Indeed, the creation does, and may it never be said that you and I don’t.
The Planter’s Perspective
“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear” (Mark 4:26-28).
When Jesus said these words, they were spoken in a different context than we hear them now. Since He spoke these words, there have been considerable advances in our understanding of science and agriculture, so when He said the farmer “knows not how” the seed grows, I think His original audience probably had no clue about the steps of germination that were involved in a seed turning from a seed into a plant. This could have been what He meant by this parable — that any given farmer could not diagram or explain the germination process.
But there may be another way to think of this. When Jesus said, “He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how” (Mark 4:27), I think a more fleshed-out meaning includes: The farmer knows, if he puts the seed in the ground, goes to bed night after night and gets up day after day, the seed will sprout and grow, but he is not able to actively discern how that actually happens. Furthermore, he has no control over that process other than to put the seed in the ground.
We have to read those things in what Jesus is saying. Otherwise, the argument falls apart once humans figured out the germination process. And it is this reading of this passage that has been on my mind in the past month.
I have described to you lately how we need to change at The Hedge, how we need to step into our place as a parachurch ministry and how I need to lead differently. In many ways, I am like the farmer — I know what I need to do, and I’m at the place where I have to put some seeds in the ground and wait for them to grow.
That is both the farmer’s calling and the farmer’s terror — to put the seeds in the ground and wait. It’s also the calling of the disciple and the terror of the disciple — to trust that God will bless evangelism and discipleship, which He has so clearly commanded (Matt. 28:18-20).
Just as the farmer depends upon the earth to bring the blade, the ear, then the full grain in the ear, so I must depend upon God to bring those He is preparing for salvation, to save them through faith in His gospel and cause them to be conformed to the image of Christ Jesus. And all the while know that I am not actively able to discern fully how He is doing that and to have no more control over the process than to evangelize and disciple.
As I look ahead to students returning to campus next month, this burden of being what God is calling us to has grown heavier. We are on the edge of a harvest, but the seeds need to be sown. There will be complete dependence upon God to do all the work of saving and transforming students. That is the only way the harvest will come.
That reality is settling on me, and I find myself more and more just whispering prayers, asking God to do what only He can — help me lead, help the ministry change, save students and make me and them more like Jesus. So, as we head into a new school year, I’m asking you to commit to praying with me. This is not a request for half-hearted petitions to a distant deity. This is a plea for persistent calls for God to do only what He can do in this ministry and at the University of Arkansas — to make seeds grow into a glorious harvest.
That’s what I see when I look back on the last month at The Hedge.