We were blessed to find a beautiful piece of property, right across the road from our house. The perfect spot. The perfect location. It has these beautiful fields out lined with wooded areas. The worst-best and I walk there often, praying and eating dirt.
The property is prime farmland. We aren’t crop farmers so we decided to rent it to someone who is – Farmer J. He plans on planting corn, winter wheat, and soy bean on a rotational basis. We’re very excited about it, it’s going to be so good for the soil. I know it’s funny to think about it like that. Good for the soil. We live in a world where land’s best use is to put in another restaurant, strip mall, or office building.
Farmer J came and met with us and said he was interested in planting crops on the land. In addition to soil testing, fertilizer (P.U., no kidding), and spraying aggressive weeds, Farmer J asked about pushing the edges back where the woods were encroaching on the fields – easier on the equipment and more crop space. We were all for him “cleaning it up” a bit and I thought a mow along the edges would probably be good for the fields and help contain the wooded area. We talked about the process and came up with an arrangement that was a win-win for both of us – or so we thought.
The rehab started. The manure was spread – my poor neighbors! Lime was dusted to help correct pH levels, and the push back along the edges began. When the push back began a few days ago it sounded like full out excavation.
So we went on a field tour yesterday to see what progress looked like. What!?! Wait!?! Something is not right. Along the edges of my beautiful wood lines were felled and uprooted trees. I cried. Not just a slipping tear, a full out ugly cry. I came unglued. Not just unglued, I went Tammy Faye. Parts of my beautiful wood line lay in carnage. To me it was a scene of destruction. To a farmer it was an expansion of crop space. Tony calmly told me that that’s what pushing back the edges meant. I said I had no idea that’s what it meant or I wouldn’t have agreed to it. It seems that everyone understood what the rehab agreement was, except me. In my idealic mind I thought pushing back the edges meant mowing a path or something, I don’t know what I thought it meant, but it wasn’t what I saw. I didn’t understand. Tony calmly walked back to the house and contacted Farmer J.
Farmer J graciously and mercifully agreed to remove pushing back along the edges as a term of agreement. I am so grateful. You see, this property is a place of solace for me. I can walk and don’t have to think. No distractions, except when a bunny leaps out and the worst-best tries to tear off in hot pursuit. It’s a place where all seems right with the world. It’s my peaceful place. A place I can worship the Creator in His creation.
Now that I’m reglued and can think a little clearer about the situation, boy can I see the lessons in this. First off, I am responsible for what I understand, for what I know. What’s she talking about? I was wrong. This issue wasn’t lack of advisement on the part of Farmer J. I mean, he did what he said he was going to do, push back the sides. And that’s what he did. In a world where one thing means another and another means something else, I just didn’t understand it literally. I should have. He was not wrong. I didn’t understand what Farmer J meant about pushing back the edges. I assumed I knew what he meant. He meant what he said. I was wrong.
…that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord, have spoken!
Jeremiah 9:24
God’s desire is that we truly know and understand who He is. Not just that we think we know who He is, or think we understand His character, but that we truly know. Assumptions in this case are deadly.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
He gave us the formula for understanding right there. The Scriptures. He took the guesswork out of it for us. We don’t have to assume anything about God, He made it very clear in His Word. If we don’t understand the Scriptures it is not because they were written to be unclear. It may be that we’re not open to hearing what they are really saying. It may be that we think we know what they mean and that we don’t need to find out what they mean. Again, assumptions are deadly. The Spirit will teach an inquiring heart.
My second lesson was the gracious and merciful way in which Farmer J agreed to stop pushing back the edges, to stop the destruction. Farmer J’s grace and mercy stopped the destruction of the woods. He had every right to continue to push back the edges, that was the agreement. Now I’m not comparing Farmer J to God, but doesn’t this sound a little familiar? Grace and mercy are what keep us from eternal destruction.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms – all because we are one with Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:4-6
There can be no misunderstanding here. It is God’s mercy (withholding what we do deserve) and grace (giving what we don’t deserve) through Jesus Christ His Son that saves us from eternal destruction. Any assumption to the contrary is deadly