The Songstory behind Seeds…
The Seed is the vehicle that the LORD YHVH created to bring forth and to multiply fruit. If we look throughout Torah and the Renewed Covenant we can see that the Seed is the word of YHVH and He sows among all types of soil. One of the things I’ve never really noticed until lately, in the parable of the soils we lament that seed is sown among thorns and rocks and conditions unfavorable for growth. The truth is that God sows exactly where He wants to; nor does He waste it—because He has told us that His grace is sufficient for us to cause us to abound in every good deed, and He causes all things to grow (2 Corinthians 9:8, 1 Corinthians 3:7). To begin, this is where we get a little direction and purpose behind the birth of this song that, much like a seed, dropped in my spirit just a few weeks ago. To convey some of the richness and import of this I did a little digging within the pages of Scripture. Let us just go over a few here.
In the Creation account we read, “Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a third day” (Genesis 1:11-13). From the beginning of God’s creation YHVH has set in motion a plan demonstrating the beauty of life and blessing within this unadorned, unassuming, poor and runty kernel that would come to be known unto all of mankind as the seed; from it is born a host of living things that reflect God’s glory in myriad ways. One of the most symbolic is the tree. In Genesis 18:4 Abraham invited his angelic visitors to come and rest themselves in the shade under a tree in his camp. In the feast of Sukkot we learn that Palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and Willows are used to rejoice and celebrate the time when we will all worship our King and Messiah Yeshua in His Kingdom (Leviticus 23:40). In Leviticus chapter 26 YHVH told Israel that if they would keep His Sabbaths, reverence His sanctuary, walk in His statutes and keep His commandments that He will give us the rains in their season so that the land will produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. (Leviticus 26:1-6)
A Few Words About Trees
Some of the more common fruit tree references in Torah include but are not limited to the Palm, the Olive, the Fig, the Pomegranate, the Apple, and the Almond tree. Of the non-fruit variety there are many other species typically used by carpenters and sometimes by The Levitical High Priest that included the Cedar, the Cypress, the Balsam, the Hyssop, the Juniper, the Oak, the Sycamore and the Tamarisk. While some of these are found in Masts and deck planks used for sailing vessels, others were set apart for the construction of bulkheads and porches in the Holy Tabernacle; some were even used for the ornate decorative carvings located along the sides of the Tabernacle porch.
Born of a seed, the tree is also a symbol of Hope as Job likened the cutting down of one during the time of his affliction saying, “He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree” (Job 19:10). We read of the godly man in Psalm chapter one that, “He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither and in whatever he does, he prospers (Psalm 1:3). In Psalm 92:12 He declares that “The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” Torah speaks of the birds building their nests in the Fir tree found in Psalm 104 verse 17. Torah, also known as God’s loving instructions are especially likened to a tree as pointed out in Proverbs 3 verse 18 stating “She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who hold her fast.”
Truth Takes Root
To bring our investigation full circle we have to return to the seed, and in First Peter chapter one verse 23 we read of believers being told, “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. If we turn to the gospel of John chapter one we’re reminded in verse 14 “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Understand this—Yeshua—Yeshua is that seed! And He has been sown into every kind of soil, as His miracle of redemption extends to the deepest, darkest, and lowest reaches. He makes Himself available to every person on the planet because as the blessing of multiplication continues in mankind, God continues to send His invitation for us to enter into relationship with Him. First Timothy chapter 2 verses 3 and 4 teach us “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
You see, we were not casually hatched here to wander aimlessly—the world will tell you so, but you were created intentionally—even if out of seemingly chaotic and violent circumstances, your existence is precious in the sight our Creator because you are alive! The reality of this begins to take root when we choose to embrace not only that the Word of YHVH is His only begotten Son Yeshua, and not only that Yeshua is the Seed, but we being created in his likeness and called to walk the same path of Yeshua—we too are seed. We are the fruit that results from being born in Him. James 1:18 reads “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.” To reaffirm the same point in the apocalyptic book of Revelation we read in chapter 12 verse 17, “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
You my friend, just like me—by His design, are meant to bear fruit. And if Yeshua lives in you and if He lives in me then like Apostle Paul said, we also need to “die daily”. Sometimes we wrestle with this truth, but honestly, it’s what we are called to do. I’d like to call it the art of getting small, because only too often have I taken myself too seriously and to my own embarrassment discovered afterwards that all my righteous indignation was rooted in the sin of pride. So we have to get small, because we we’re not created to serve ourselves. We were created to serve Him right? Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 15 reads “and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” The underlying principle in this teaching is discovered in John chapter 12 verse 24. It reads, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” This is the truth emphatically stated and demonstrated by God, by His Son on the Cross, by His resurrection, and by many of God’s people throughout Torah and the Renewed Covenant—but it also extends to us.
According to His Power
On a crowded mountain side Yeshua taught, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Oswald Chambers in his devotional My Utmost for His Highest said that “This is the first principle in the kingdom of God. The underlying foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not possessions; not making decisions for Jesus, but having such a sense of absolute futility that we finally admit, “LORD, I cannot even begin to do it” Then Jesus says, “Blessed are you…”. This is the doorway to the kingdom, and yet it takes so long to believe that we are actually poor! The knowledge of our own poverty is what brings us to the proper place where Jesus Christ accomplishes His work.” And if I might just add to that, once we realize that we cannot do anything apart from Him, this is when we have humbled ourselves and allow Him to fill us and use us as He intends. I realize it’s foundational, but in my lifetime I find often and plenty are the times I have to gut-check myself, and remember “it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Even when I am choosing Him and choosing to obey Him, it’s only because “…I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me” (Colossians 1:29) and because Yeshua said “apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
To Walk in Love
So why must we struggle? Yeshua was tested, and so will we. We are filled so that we can be poured out just like Yeshua. Paul who is probably the most prolific missionary and writer of the renewed covenant, chosen by YHVH specifically to “show how much he must suffer for My name's sake” (Acts chapter 9) declared that he was “always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:10). The reality is when we stop blaming YHVH for what man has done and begin serving YHVH by taking on the mind of Christ, learning how He wants us to love Him, the seed will bring forth fruit. To quote Apostle Paul again in first Corinthians chapter 13 he said if I have not love, then I am nothing, and YHVH is love—but how then do we love YHVH? The answer is found in Second John chapter one verse 6—obedience to His commandments. His commandment is simple it is "that you love one another, just as I have loved you” (John 15:12). “Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:14). How did Messiah demonstrate His love for us during his lifetime on earth? We read “"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). But it requires our surrender right? In order to love we must as Yeshua did, put others first. I love the way The Message translates Romans 12:10. It reads “Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.” It really means we have to become like that small, unassuming, runty little seed so that we can die to ourselves, so that He can make us a fruitful tree bearing fruit for all. When we learn to die to our pride, to lay aside our old self and become renewed in the spirit of our mind, we will begin to “walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma” (Ephesians 4:22-23; 5:2).
Where is Our Fear?
Seeds is a song about planting and growing, a life born from the willingness to set ourselves aside, but none of this can happen apart from YHVH. We are conscious participants, and therefore choose whether the condition of our “soil” is good or bad. But listen to what YHVH said about His new covenant with Israel in Jeremiah, “They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and singleness of purpose, so that they will fear me forever — this will be for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant not to turn away from them, but to do them good; I will put fear of me in their hearts, so that they will not leave me. I will take joy in them, so as to do them good. I will plant them in this land truly, with my whole heart and being” (Jeremiah 32:38-41). The preceding passage is not intended for us to see God as some terrorizing, punishing, heavy-handed judge, but rather as a Holy God, who measures the universe with the breadth of His hand, who spoke creation into existence, and who desires to do good unto us and to our children. I think many of us have misunderstood what the fear of God truly is.
Why else would Paul lament man’s foolishness speaking of the legacy we would leave if apart from God when he said, “Their throats are open graves, they use their tongues to deceive. Vipers’ venom is under their lips. Their mouths are full of curses and bitterness. Their feet rush to shed blood, in their ways are ruin and misery, and the way of shalom they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes” –there is no fear (Romans 3:13-18). The truth of the matter is the further we drift from identifying with the fear of God, the further we drift from Him. It was Moshe’ who said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin" (Exodus 20:20). On the one hand Moshe tells them to not be afraid, and then in the same breath tells them that their struggle is a test to confirm that the fear of YHVH remains with them in order to keep them from sin. My prayer, our prayer—should be the same as King David who prayed “Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name” (Psalm 86:11). If I could quote author Jerry Bridges again, “It is the fear of the LORD that should determine our fundamental outlook on life. Our main goal in life should be to glorify God. That is the ultimate goal to which all knowledge should be directed” (The Joy of Fearing God, Bridges).
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10). What that means is the fear of God is connected to wisdom, and wisdom is connected to knowledge, which is connected to godliness, which is vital to our spiritual progress (Titus 1:1). It makes a chain all linked together, but if fear and awe and wonder of our God is lost, we lose everything else as well. So much of our lives is bound up in attempting to make sense of why things happen the way they do, and how to fit these experiences into the character of such a loving Elohim. For me personally, I want to strive to know Him, to be closer to Him, to practice His presence in every moment of my life, but the right kind of fear is a key component; not a terrorizing or ‘slavish’ fear the enemy would like us to believe about God, but the Holy, set-apart, omnipotent, majestic kind of fear, full of awe and wonder; the kind of fear I imagine should I find myself under a star encrusted Milky way somewhere in the painted Arizona desert surrounded by ancient mesas and rock arches. We are so small—but The Artist, The Creator of every star and every planet, created us—to be in an intimate relationship with Him, to know Him. Just like the verse in Jeremiah, if we revere YHVH and walk in obedience He will plant us in the land and bring those sustaining nurturing rains causing our lives to become fruitful and a fragrant aroma that not only pleases Him, but becomes an inspiration to us and to family and our neighbors.
What if we like a seed, in obedience to YHVH laid our lives down for one another? Consider it. Can you imagine the result of the fruit born from such selfless sacrifice? Can you picture the magnitude of restoration of relationships? My mind is drawn back to the book of John chapter 21 where Peter and company had been fishing all night and caught nothing. Then when Yeshua appeared at daybreak He asked them to cast their net on the right side of their boat. They caught such an enormous volume of fish that they could not haul it all in! If we obey, we will bring forth fruit and covering; fruit to sustain our neighbors and to provide them shade from the heat of the day and a place for us to gather to worship our King and Messiah Yeshua. Beloved, as obedient seeds, let us tend to our soil, let us seek to grow in the fear of The LORD today. “But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children's children, To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts to do them” (Psalm 103:17-18).
Seeds Words and music by Will Spires Monday, July 13, 2015
We’re dreamin’ big, we’re makin’ plans,
But sometimes the dream won’t wake and the, ship won’t come in.
And we think why? Wish I knew why?
There’s a cherry tree in my yard, out my front door
Pink petals stretch toward the sun—or blow in the storm
And I think why? Wish I knew why?
Control is out of our hands, the more I choose to get low
The more I, understand
What if seeds refused to die? There’d be no fruit or flower
The bees all would die, the birds would live underground
The sky would blister and we would be apart
Because the seed chose to obey its death brings life to all
And I ask why? Yes I ask why? It is love that is why, it is why
Let the rain fall down, let the rain fall down
LORD please faithfully plant me and I will grow
I will grow in the fear of The LORD. Yes I will grow in the fear of The LORD.
The Seed is the vehicle that the LORD YHVH created to bring forth and to multiply fruit. If we look throughout Torah and the Renewed Covenant we can see that the Seed is the word of YHVH and He sows among all types of soil. One of the things I’ve never really noticed until lately, in the parable of the soils we lament that seed is sown among thorns and rocks and conditions unfavorable for growth. The truth is that God sows exactly where He wants to; nor does He waste it—because He has told us that His grace is sufficient for us to cause us to abound in every good deed, and He causes all things to grow (2 Corinthians 9:8, 1 Corinthians 3:7). To begin, this is where we get a little direction and purpose behind the birth of this song that, much like a seed, dropped in my spirit just a few weeks ago. To convey some of the richness and import of this I did a little digging within the pages of Scripture. Let us just go over a few here.
In the Creation account we read, “Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a third day” (Genesis 1:11-13). From the beginning of God’s creation YHVH has set in motion a plan demonstrating the beauty of life and blessing within this unadorned, unassuming, poor and runty kernel that would come to be known unto all of mankind as the seed; from it is born a host of living things that reflect God’s glory in myriad ways. One of the most symbolic is the tree. In Genesis 18:4 Abraham invited his angelic visitors to come and rest themselves in the shade under a tree in his camp. In the feast of Sukkot we learn that Palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and Willows are used to rejoice and celebrate the time when we will all worship our King and Messiah Yeshua in His Kingdom (Leviticus 23:40). In Leviticus chapter 26 YHVH told Israel that if they would keep His Sabbaths, reverence His sanctuary, walk in His statutes and keep His commandments that He will give us the rains in their season so that the land will produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. (Leviticus 26:1-6)
A Few Words About Trees
Some of the more common fruit tree references in Torah include but are not limited to the Palm, the Olive, the Fig, the Pomegranate, the Apple, and the Almond tree. Of the non-fruit variety there are many other species typically used by carpenters and sometimes by The Levitical High Priest that included the Cedar, the Cypress, the Balsam, the Hyssop, the Juniper, the Oak, the Sycamore and the Tamarisk. While some of these are found in Masts and deck planks used for sailing vessels, others were set apart for the construction of bulkheads and porches in the Holy Tabernacle; some were even used for the ornate decorative carvings located along the sides of the Tabernacle porch.
Born of a seed, the tree is also a symbol of Hope as Job likened the cutting down of one during the time of his affliction saying, “He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree” (Job 19:10). We read of the godly man in Psalm chapter one that, “He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither and in whatever he does, he prospers (Psalm 1:3). In Psalm 92:12 He declares that “The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” Torah speaks of the birds building their nests in the Fir tree found in Psalm 104 verse 17. Torah, also known as God’s loving instructions are especially likened to a tree as pointed out in Proverbs 3 verse 18 stating “She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who hold her fast.”
Truth Takes Root
To bring our investigation full circle we have to return to the seed, and in First Peter chapter one verse 23 we read of believers being told, “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. If we turn to the gospel of John chapter one we’re reminded in verse 14 “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Understand this—Yeshua—Yeshua is that seed! And He has been sown into every kind of soil, as His miracle of redemption extends to the deepest, darkest, and lowest reaches. He makes Himself available to every person on the planet because as the blessing of multiplication continues in mankind, God continues to send His invitation for us to enter into relationship with Him. First Timothy chapter 2 verses 3 and 4 teach us “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
You see, we were not casually hatched here to wander aimlessly—the world will tell you so, but you were created intentionally—even if out of seemingly chaotic and violent circumstances, your existence is precious in the sight our Creator because you are alive! The reality of this begins to take root when we choose to embrace not only that the Word of YHVH is His only begotten Son Yeshua, and not only that Yeshua is the Seed, but we being created in his likeness and called to walk the same path of Yeshua—we too are seed. We are the fruit that results from being born in Him. James 1:18 reads “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.” To reaffirm the same point in the apocalyptic book of Revelation we read in chapter 12 verse 17, “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
You my friend, just like me—by His design, are meant to bear fruit. And if Yeshua lives in you and if He lives in me then like Apostle Paul said, we also need to “die daily”. Sometimes we wrestle with this truth, but honestly, it’s what we are called to do. I’d like to call it the art of getting small, because only too often have I taken myself too seriously and to my own embarrassment discovered afterwards that all my righteous indignation was rooted in the sin of pride. So we have to get small, because we we’re not created to serve ourselves. We were created to serve Him right? Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 15 reads “and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” The underlying principle in this teaching is discovered in John chapter 12 verse 24. It reads, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” This is the truth emphatically stated and demonstrated by God, by His Son on the Cross, by His resurrection, and by many of God’s people throughout Torah and the Renewed Covenant—but it also extends to us.
According to His Power
On a crowded mountain side Yeshua taught, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Oswald Chambers in his devotional My Utmost for His Highest said that “This is the first principle in the kingdom of God. The underlying foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not possessions; not making decisions for Jesus, but having such a sense of absolute futility that we finally admit, “LORD, I cannot even begin to do it” Then Jesus says, “Blessed are you…”. This is the doorway to the kingdom, and yet it takes so long to believe that we are actually poor! The knowledge of our own poverty is what brings us to the proper place where Jesus Christ accomplishes His work.” And if I might just add to that, once we realize that we cannot do anything apart from Him, this is when we have humbled ourselves and allow Him to fill us and use us as He intends. I realize it’s foundational, but in my lifetime I find often and plenty are the times I have to gut-check myself, and remember “it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Even when I am choosing Him and choosing to obey Him, it’s only because “…I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me” (Colossians 1:29) and because Yeshua said “apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
To Walk in Love
So why must we struggle? Yeshua was tested, and so will we. We are filled so that we can be poured out just like Yeshua. Paul who is probably the most prolific missionary and writer of the renewed covenant, chosen by YHVH specifically to “show how much he must suffer for My name's sake” (Acts chapter 9) declared that he was “always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:10). The reality is when we stop blaming YHVH for what man has done and begin serving YHVH by taking on the mind of Christ, learning how He wants us to love Him, the seed will bring forth fruit. To quote Apostle Paul again in first Corinthians chapter 13 he said if I have not love, then I am nothing, and YHVH is love—but how then do we love YHVH? The answer is found in Second John chapter one verse 6—obedience to His commandments. His commandment is simple it is "that you love one another, just as I have loved you” (John 15:12). “Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:14). How did Messiah demonstrate His love for us during his lifetime on earth? We read “"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). But it requires our surrender right? In order to love we must as Yeshua did, put others first. I love the way The Message translates Romans 12:10. It reads “Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.” It really means we have to become like that small, unassuming, runty little seed so that we can die to ourselves, so that He can make us a fruitful tree bearing fruit for all. When we learn to die to our pride, to lay aside our old self and become renewed in the spirit of our mind, we will begin to “walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma” (Ephesians 4:22-23; 5:2).
Where is Our Fear?
Seeds is a song about planting and growing, a life born from the willingness to set ourselves aside, but none of this can happen apart from YHVH. We are conscious participants, and therefore choose whether the condition of our “soil” is good or bad. But listen to what YHVH said about His new covenant with Israel in Jeremiah, “They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and singleness of purpose, so that they will fear me forever — this will be for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant not to turn away from them, but to do them good; I will put fear of me in their hearts, so that they will not leave me. I will take joy in them, so as to do them good. I will plant them in this land truly, with my whole heart and being” (Jeremiah 32:38-41). The preceding passage is not intended for us to see God as some terrorizing, punishing, heavy-handed judge, but rather as a Holy God, who measures the universe with the breadth of His hand, who spoke creation into existence, and who desires to do good unto us and to our children. I think many of us have misunderstood what the fear of God truly is.
Why else would Paul lament man’s foolishness speaking of the legacy we would leave if apart from God when he said, “Their throats are open graves, they use their tongues to deceive. Vipers’ venom is under their lips. Their mouths are full of curses and bitterness. Their feet rush to shed blood, in their ways are ruin and misery, and the way of shalom they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes” –there is no fear (Romans 3:13-18). The truth of the matter is the further we drift from identifying with the fear of God, the further we drift from Him. It was Moshe’ who said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin" (Exodus 20:20). On the one hand Moshe tells them to not be afraid, and then in the same breath tells them that their struggle is a test to confirm that the fear of YHVH remains with them in order to keep them from sin. My prayer, our prayer—should be the same as King David who prayed “Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name” (Psalm 86:11). If I could quote author Jerry Bridges again, “It is the fear of the LORD that should determine our fundamental outlook on life. Our main goal in life should be to glorify God. That is the ultimate goal to which all knowledge should be directed” (The Joy of Fearing God, Bridges).
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10). What that means is the fear of God is connected to wisdom, and wisdom is connected to knowledge, which is connected to godliness, which is vital to our spiritual progress (Titus 1:1). It makes a chain all linked together, but if fear and awe and wonder of our God is lost, we lose everything else as well. So much of our lives is bound up in attempting to make sense of why things happen the way they do, and how to fit these experiences into the character of such a loving Elohim. For me personally, I want to strive to know Him, to be closer to Him, to practice His presence in every moment of my life, but the right kind of fear is a key component; not a terrorizing or ‘slavish’ fear the enemy would like us to believe about God, but the Holy, set-apart, omnipotent, majestic kind of fear, full of awe and wonder; the kind of fear I imagine should I find myself under a star encrusted Milky way somewhere in the painted Arizona desert surrounded by ancient mesas and rock arches. We are so small—but The Artist, The Creator of every star and every planet, created us—to be in an intimate relationship with Him, to know Him. Just like the verse in Jeremiah, if we revere YHVH and walk in obedience He will plant us in the land and bring those sustaining nurturing rains causing our lives to become fruitful and a fragrant aroma that not only pleases Him, but becomes an inspiration to us and to family and our neighbors.
What if we like a seed, in obedience to YHVH laid our lives down for one another? Consider it. Can you imagine the result of the fruit born from such selfless sacrifice? Can you picture the magnitude of restoration of relationships? My mind is drawn back to the book of John chapter 21 where Peter and company had been fishing all night and caught nothing. Then when Yeshua appeared at daybreak He asked them to cast their net on the right side of their boat. They caught such an enormous volume of fish that they could not haul it all in! If we obey, we will bring forth fruit and covering; fruit to sustain our neighbors and to provide them shade from the heat of the day and a place for us to gather to worship our King and Messiah Yeshua. Beloved, as obedient seeds, let us tend to our soil, let us seek to grow in the fear of The LORD today. “But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children's children, To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts to do them” (Psalm 103:17-18).
Seeds Words and music by Will Spires Monday, July 13, 2015
We’re dreamin’ big, we’re makin’ plans,
But sometimes the dream won’t wake and the, ship won’t come in.
And we think why? Wish I knew why?
There’s a cherry tree in my yard, out my front door
Pink petals stretch toward the sun—or blow in the storm
And I think why? Wish I knew why?
Control is out of our hands, the more I choose to get low
The more I, understand
What if seeds refused to die? There’d be no fruit or flower
The bees all would die, the birds would live underground
The sky would blister and we would be apart
Because the seed chose to obey its death brings life to all
And I ask why? Yes I ask why? It is love that is why, it is why
Let the rain fall down, let the rain fall down
LORD please faithfully plant me and I will grow
I will grow in the fear of The LORD. Yes I will grow in the fear of The LORD.
