It is dry and dusty. When
the tractors with their grain wagons cruise down our gravel road, clouds clamor
through the screen door and settle on the piano. So dry that combines and fields are igniting,
flames and smoke consuming fields. Farmers
are advised via radio to have their disks ready. Small town fire whistles blow as crews head
out to yet another blaze.
I am no farmer, but it has been a dry and dusty autumn for me,
too. I feel overwhelmed by
busyness. Inadequate as a mom. Listless in prayer. Unmotivated to memorize. Filled with doubt rather than delight. Frustration rather than faith. Weary in well doing (Galatians 6:9). So
dry I fear that these petty, small flames might burn me right up.
Do you feel this way sometimes? When I am discouraged, I become
self-centered, but God’s Word teaches me that times of drought and despair are
experiences that all saints share. I
read Psalms 63 and 143 at breakfast every day for a week: “My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh longs for
Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is” (Psalm 63:1). “Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within
me; my heart within me is desolate. I
remember the days of old; I meditate on all Thy works; I muse on the work of
Thy hands. I stretch forth my hands unto
Thee: my soul thirsts after Thee, as a thirsty land” (Psalm 143:4-6). At noon we read about Job – now there are
some real flames – and I pause on his confession: “When he has tried me, I shall come forth as
gold” (Job 23:10).
When one purifies gold - I learned this at a Bible study once - he pours it into huge vats and melts it to a liquid form. During this process, impurities within
the gold make their way to the top.
The refiner then removes this dross, resulting in a gold that is purer and
more valuable. The higher the temperature,
the more impurities rise to the surface of the gold.
So God purifies us.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living
hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and
undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God
through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while,
if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that
perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory
at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1:3-7).
“Therefore be patient,
brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for
the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the
early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts,
for the coming of the Lord is at hand,” and (remember?) "He shall come down like rain" (James 5:7-8
and Psalm 72:6).
It is dusk, and I am at the end of the driveway. The hum of combines and tractors fills my
ears, and harvest dust hovers on the horizon.
The setting sun burns through this haze, and the fields flame, pure
gold.
"My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God” (Psalm 42: 2&11).
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