by Michael Phillips
Ezekiel
There is an old German proverb that says, Begin to weave, and God will provide the thread.[1] In speaking of the realm of heaven, Jesus portrays a farmer who scatters seeds which sprout and grow, without the farmers understanding how. The earth, says Jesus, produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. The farmer, unclear as to how this comes about, has only a bit part to play in the cycle of seed time and harvest he sows the seed, and at the time of harvest, goes in with his sickle.
One of the lessons we might take from this parable is that the Christian faith is not about optimism. Youve probably heard the definition of an optimist as a father who let his teenage son drive the family car. A pessimist is one who wont, and a cynic is one who did.[2] Many folk I know have traveled this cycle from optimist to pessimist to cynic as regards their faith. I encounter them everyday as they approach me and relate to me their various journeys and injuries at the hands of church folk, or through the vagaries of life itself. Yet, I tell them, Christianity is not about having a rosy outlook on life. Its simply a hope that whatever life or other people foist upon us, God is in the midst of our concerns, even if we dont know how.
Thats an important lesson for us to take to heart. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said that All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, until they take root in our personal experience.[3] There is a sense, then, in which the German proverb, begin to sew and God will provide the thread, is the heart of our Christian statement of faith, yet, in order to make this faith truly ours, we must be willing to risk those moments when we risk looking foolish, or feeling foolish, because we dont really understand exactly how what God has said will come to pass we merely remember and accept that God has promised good to us and begin to act and continue to act in accordance with our faith.
Yes, there
are times when we find ourselves in the midst of things that were not sure how
were going to come out of. The truth is, there are times that we wont come out of the things that
beset us in this lifetime. Yet, the
power of Christs resurrection still assures us that hope is not lost. This is not optimism, that
says everything going to be fine. It is Hope,
which says, Though God slay me, yet will I trust in God (Job
Sometimes people become discouraged in the midst of life, and for good reasons. Discouragement can paralyze us, cause us to question our worth, and cause us to question our God. It often acts in such a way as to block out the light of Gods realm from our natural vision. Consider that The difference between the size of the sun and the size of a quarter is a difference of a few millimeters and millions of miles. Yet, we can hold that tiny quarter so close to our eyes that we cant see the sun. Its the same with our problems. Though God is so much greater than any problem well ever face, we can look so closely at our problems that we allow them to block our vision of Gods presence in our lives.[4]
Again, I emphasize, this isnt optimism. Christianity is not about wearing rose colored glasses. Neither is it a platitude (an empty saying that we mouth to make sense of things we cant truly comprehend). No, we dont suggest that God puts us to the test to teach us anything from our trials, unless, as the author of Hebrews states, it is to learn obedience in suffering (Hebrews 5:8), and what is that obedience to which the author alludes it is the willingness to maintain faith in Gods willingness to be with us even when everything around us suggests that God has left us, forgotten us, or even abandoned us. This is the essence of our hope in Gods perfect love.
Nick Thomas
found himself at the age of forty-seven unemployed and under tremendous
financial pressure. Though he had a
successful career in the Air Force and the insurance business, some reversals had
set him back and left him with no place to go.
His wife, Liz, made their situation a matter of prayer. She was in church one morning, praying about
their dilemma, when she though she could almost hear the words, Make the
mustard. Her family had a mustard
recipe from
A holy man once said that a mustard seed is very plain, and of little value; but if it is bruised or crushed it shows forth its power. So faith first seems a simple thing; but if it is bruised by its enemies it gives forth proof of its power, so as to fill others who hear of it with the odor of its sweetness.[6]
Howard
Thurman was Dean of Marsh Chapel,
Thurmans
grandmother said of this old preacher that, He hardly ever preached a sermon
without going by
The task of preaching, as Ive discovered after some twenty-three years of attempting it, is the job of saying over and over again what folk really dont want to hear that were unfaithful in our lifestyles to the God that has adopted us as children, and yet, God remains faithful to us and to the creation, the work of Gods heart and hands. I cant imagine (and dont pretend to comprehend) what it might have felt like to be a slave, the property of another human being. I cant imagine how the painful laboring of seven days a week for nothing, without being accorded the simplest rights of humanity, could be overturned by an old preacher. I wonder, in fact, if that old parson had any idea of whether or not his preaching would one day assist the slaves in deciding to stand with dignity in the midst of undignified circumstances, and to profess their freedom while they remained in chains.
A farmer went out to sow; the seeds he scattered began to grow. He slept and woke, uncertain how, but in due time came the harvest. God is at work in your lives and mine even if we dont see it; even if we dont feel it, God is at work in your lives and mine in the smallest of things. Whatever our circumstances, whatever our condition, whatever our problems and concerns, let us commit ourselves to prayer and entrust our lives to God. This is the pattern of Christs life both in the life he lived upon the earth and the life he now lives in us. Let us learn to hope in the smallest of things.