Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

* Good and Faithful Servants
* Scripture: "Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him, for he refreshes the soul of his masters." Proverbs 25:13, NKJV

Farming is an occupation that is critically dependent upon the weather for successful planting, growing and harvest of crops. A few days delay of planting or harvest can make a big difference in yield, or even cause a total loss or failure of the crop.
Field crops, such as grain, need rain after the planting is finished, during the growing season, but wet fields delay planting.
Too much rain during the growing season is bad, and hail, wind, or even drought can destroy the crop at any stage of growth. Timely, moderate rain is essential, and totally beyond control of the farmer.
Probably no stage of growth of any crop - field, orchard, or vineyard - is more critical than at harvest time. The ripe grain can be flattened by wind or hail. Untimely rain, or, heaven forbid! A snow storm at harvest time is a grower's nightmare.
The little verse from Proverbs 25:13 puzzled me for two reasons. First, I can't imagine any farmer happy about snow on a ripe crop, especially standing grain in the field.
Second, the verse is about harvest time in Israel. I know that they do have snow, but I doubted that it happened often in summer, during the harvest season. I had to check this one out.
And I am glad that I did! It opened up a new insight on living in God's kingdom.
I found that it does indeed snow in Israel, usually only in the depths of winter, and even then the snow quickly melts. Harvest time is usually hot, and intensive manual labor in the fields is hard on the workers. Oh! For a cold drink to slake the thirst of one and all. Enter Mount Hermon, which usually has snow even in the summer time. Snow! The ideal cooler for drinks in a hot, arid climate. No ice houses, no refrigeration equipment. Snow from the mountain in the time of harvest to refresh the soul.
Now notice the rest of that verse. It is not about farming or the harvest at all. It is about messengers, good and faithful servants! (See Matthew 25:21.) About faithful friends, leaders, wives and husbands. Pastors and laity. About you and me, servants one and all.
What an insight we gain when we learn the real purpose of that one little verse. God made all things for good, at the right time, in the right place, in the season of need.
Pray that we all come to embody the qualities of that "good and faithful servant" who refreshes the soul of his masters like a drink cooled by snow in the heat of the summer.
July 23, 2006

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

* Milk and Honey
* Scripture: The Lord said, "So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey." (Exodus 3:8a, NKJV)

Living things come in many forms, from the microscopic, one-celled amoeba to the multi-ton elephant and whale. We all share one common trait (yes, people, too!) We require nourishment to sustain life. We eat.
People can, and do, live almost anywhere. Anywhere that there is an adequate supply of food, that is. This may come as a shock to many urbanites, but supermarkets do not create our food. Food comes from the land, fertile, productive land. The phrase "land flowing with milk and honey" is repeated numerous times in the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, holding forth the promise of not just a safe haven, but also the promise of a sufficient and sustainable food supply.
The people of the Exodus often complained to Moses and Aaron that their new-found freedom was leading them to starvation. They hungered for the familiar foods of Egypt, even if it meant a return to slavery. In reality, they did not lack food. The Lord provided sustenance to the people in the form of manna and quail. They also had access to meat and milk from the flocks they took with them (See Ex. 12:32.)
The Lord had promised Abraham that his descendants would have a land to call their own, a "land flowing with milk and honey." Moses sent out a band of men, leaders chosen from each tribe, to survey or 'spy out' the land they were to occupy. I find it to be interesting that they did not bring back examples of milk and honey from their foray.
Instead, we read that "they came to the Valley of Eschol, and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs." (Numbers 13:23, NKJV)
Livestock must have grass to eat, and where there is vegetation wild bees will be found, adding honey to their diet. So, in a sense, they already had their milk and honey. They were, however, strangers and sojourners in the land through which they traveled.
Fertility and fruitfulness were highly valued in Biblical times, indeed, in much of the world even today. Pastures feed the flocks of even a nomadic people. Fruit trees, however, and fields of grain require permanence. No more wandering, no more transportable tent dwellings. A place to call home!
A good and large land, indeed, with the fertility and resources to not only support agriculture, but to also raise families and build a great nation - and to live as God's people.
Many people today have their "milk and honey" - God's word and access to Him - but are like sojurners in the wilderness. They need to find a place to call home, a good, supportive church home, to fully live as God's People.
July 16, 2006

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: John the Baptiser said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” John 1:29, NIV

I have a word for you to think about - Juxtaposition - the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side. I see nothing in the definition that compels me to so place similar ideas, and I think extreme contrasts can often illustrate a concept that is otherwise difficult to comprehend.
I have my Bible open on the desk beside me as I write, and a television playing in the background. I read from Daniel, 11:40; “At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships.”
You may presume correctly what is showing on the television.
No, this current conflict is not what Daniel was prophesying about. Nor am I implying in any way that we are seeing a fulfillment of scripture through the war in Iraq. Rather, this is just a juxtaposition of two things. There is a relationship, however, that I find to be most interesting.
Daniel was a captive of Nebuchadnezzer, king of Babylon, the famous city noted for the hanging gardens. The city various prophets described as arrogant, oppressive, cruel and destructive. The city on the Euphrates River! Yes, 2,500 years ago, Babylon; today, Iraq.
Ironic, perhaps, that human nature doesn’t change much. Daniel spoke about a time when the king saw the handwriting on the wall, and his kingdom fell - to Persia; to what is modern day Iran. Later, Alexander and the Macedonians (Greeks) conquered the entire region, from India in the east to Egypt and Ethiopia in Africa. Alexander died at the age of thirty-three, and four of his generals fought over the territory. The Southern kingdom, Including Egypt, fought the Northern kingdom, based in Syria, among other battles. And guess what country was caught in the middle - even after the Romans took on them all? Palestine. Israel. So what has changed?
Ideas placed side by side, to be sure. But here is the greatest juxtaposition of all: Before I sat down to write this article, I assisted in the birth of a lamb in our barn. The first lamb of the season, on the second day of spring. Life anew!
I brought in two more hen’s eggs which will be placed in an incubator. When we collect enough, we will turn it on. In twenty-one days, there should be new life there, God willing!
All too often, man destroys. And God creates.
God gave His Son, called the “Lamb of God” that we might have life anew. It was in the taking of life that we gained eternal life.
Juxtapositions!
March 23, 2003

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: And the LORD said, . . . “So I have come down to deliver them out of the land of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey. . . *. (Exodus 3:8a, NKJV)

Milk and honey! Sounds delightful. Maybe add cookies. Like a candy store, but a good and large land full of milk and honey. The Promised Land. How could anything be bad about that?
Well, the more that I researched the topic of milk and honey, the more complex it became.
As a beekeeper, the references to honey in the Bible have always intrigued me. How sweet are the words of Psalm 19:9b-10: “The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”
Or, consider this Proverb: “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.” (Proverbs 16:24) Priceless advertising for any beekeeper.
But now things begin to become, well, sticky! Honey comes from bees, a non-kosher insect. And Leviticus 2:11 specifies that no grain offering to the LORD made by fire shall contain leaven (yeast) or any honey. How, then, does honey and the honeycomb play so prominent a role in the scriptures, and the customs of Israel?
Turning to the internet for research, I found numerous references to the issue, which has apparently been much debated among the Jewish authorities. Here is an answer from http://answers.yahoo.com/question/
that quotes a Beraita (a Halachic teaching from the time of the Mishna) which says even though bees bring honey into their bodies, it is not a *product* of their bodies [it is stored there but not produced there]. According to Rabbi Yaakov, the verse prohibits one to eat a flying insect, but *not* that which is *excreted* from it.
Contained in the response is this further note on milk and honey: “You may wonder: How could one even think
that bee-honey is not Kosher -- the Torah refers to the Land of Israel as "a Land flowing with milk and honey"! Certainly the Torah would not choose a non-Kosher product as a means for describing the beauty of the Land of Israel! This may come as a surprise, but the honey mentioned in the verse about "milk and honey" is not bee-honey -- rather it is fig-honey. The Talmud in Tractate Berachot tells us that another verse "It is a Land of wheat, barley, grapes, figs and pomegranates -- a Land of olives and *honey*" -- is referring to date-honey.” Source(s):
http://ohr.edu/ask_db/ask_main.php?search=land+of+milk+and+honey
(See also Deuteronomy 8:8)
More checking brought up numerous advertisements for both kosher bee honey and date honey. One company had this note: “Date Honey is made from the syrup of dates and is not a bee product. ...”
One custom that popped up during searches for ‘honey’ was associated with apples: “Traditionally, from Rosh Hashana until after Sukkot, honey is served with every major meal. It is smeared on the bread over which we recite the "Hamotzi" blessing, the sweet apple is dipped into honey on the night of Rosh Hashana, sweet baked goods are baked with honey, and honey is used in the preparation of foods such as glazed carrots and sweet desserts.”
http://www.aish.com/h/hh/rh/48959531.html
One of the most unusual honey bee colonies is mentioned in Judges, in a carcass of a lion that Samson had killed earlier. Read the story of Samson’s riddle, his betrayal, and his curt response, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.” (Judges Chapter 8)
How easily riches and comfort make us forget our dependence on God. A prophetic warning is given to Moses as he turns over leadership of the children of Israel, just before they enter the promised land: “When I (the LORD) have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant.” (Deuteronomy 31:20)
Moses therefore includes these words in a prophetic song he teaches the people: “But Jeshuran (Israel) grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, you are obese!” (Deuteronomy 32:15)

*Note: Figuratively, a “land of milk and honey” is any place of great abundance.

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: In reply, Jesus declared, I tell you the truth, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.John 3:3 (NIV).

I was reminded several times this past week of the extent that change plays in our lives. The seasons change, and nature changes to keep pace. We have seen the buds on the trees change to flowers and leaves. Plants that lay safely dormant underground all winter are now back in their fair-weather foliage. Lambs, kittens and kids (goats), that were smaller than a pin-head a few months ago are now bounding about the pasture, barn, and pens. What a miraculous change they have gone through! Not random change, but planned change.
The Unchanging God has provided change, predictable change, as a means of survival.
Survival often requires a change of form, whether dormancy, hibernation, or seed. Dormancy for plants enables them to endure weather and temperatures that would otherwise kill them. Each species has a program to reproduce. Even in animals, the chromosomes and genes of those first few cells contain all the information to reproduce the complete animal. At the proper time, I am told, each cell turns on only long enough to produce a leg, eye, or brain, and then turns off again.
What a change a young child goes through! Birth is itself a dramatic transformation from one world to another. Learning to walk is a major challenge; balancing on two supports, challenging gravity, and moving at the same time. By four or five years of age, a child has learned the complexities of whatever language they are exposed to - sometimes becoming fluent in several languages.
As I watched a program about the Exodus, I noted that the Israelites had to undergo almost a birth process, to change from settled, government-controlled servanthood in Egypt, to a nomadic existance in the desert, and then to an agriarian/village lifestyle in Israel, the promised land. Their most major change, though, was in their relationship to God. Although birth takes place in a finite moment, growth is a continuing process. Growth involves change!
God has provided change, predictable change, as a means of survival for all of us. Born Again, Jesus called it. Paul said, We are a new being in Christ. Leave behind the old; become new. We must grow and mature in this world toward that form which will prepare us for the life in the eternal world.
What would have happened had the Israelites remained in Egypt? What happens to the plant that doesn't bud and bloom? What happens to the embryo that doesn't change beyond a few cells? What happens to the New-born Christian who doesn't grow in the image of Jesus? 6/1/97