Seeds of Purpose
“I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” (John 15:16)
There is something about being sensitive to the voice of God that has to do with your intimate relationship with Him. When you begin to love Him and listen to His voice, you’re going to produce fruit because love always creates: “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” (John 15:16).
So why aren’t we more creative? Why aren’t we producing more? Isaiah said it’s because we don’t listen enough:
Listen to me, listen as I plead: Does a farmer always plow and never sow? Is he forever harrowing the soil and never planting it? Does he not finally plant his many kinds of grain, each in it own section of his land? He knows just what to do, for God has made him see and understand. (Isaiah 28:23-26 TLB)
God prepares you to listen in many ways; He prepares your heart to listen to what He has to say to you. He also gives you seed in your heart, and when you obey Him, you bring forth the harvest He wants. Yet He tells different things to different people because we are not all alike. He has “many kinds of grains,” and we are planted in different places. He prepares you for what He has for you.
When He speaks, He “threshes” what He gives you and harvest it in a most unique way:
He doesn’t thresh all grains the same. A sledge is never used on dill, but it is beaten with a stick. A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin, but it is beaten softly with a flail. Bread grain is easily crushed, so he doesn’t keep on pounding it. The Lord Almighty is a wonderful teacher and gives the farmer wisdom. (Isaiah 28:27-29 TLB)
God uses different threshing tools on us. In the same way that dill is too fragile to use a sledge on, some people are too fragile, so He uses a little stick because that is what it will take to get their attention. At other time, He may use a flail because He wants us to be the seasoning in someone’s life—sometimes we’re the dill and sometimes we’re the cumin.
God might use a stick, a flail, a sledge, or even a wheel to get your attention. But remember, God always has a purpose in what He tells you. God’s ultimate reason for speaking to you is to encourage you to be a “farmer” just like He is. He wants you to go forth and bring forth fruit, and for your fruit to remain. Once you know what God wants you to do, you must obey. Even when it looks like you’re failing, God can still use you to “season” the people around you. After all, just a little dill added to cucumbers makes great pickles!
