Rebellion is like....

While driving the other day I saw this church marque:

knowing and not doing

is like 

plowing and not sowing

Convicting isn't it?

It hit me square in the face. That is what living in rebellion is like. The field is plowed, waiting to be sowed. Can you imagine a farmer spending days upon days plowing a field, then not bothering to sow it? It's unheard of. It just doesn't make sense. To relate this to my own life I've plowed the fields and even sowed the seeds. After sowing I became tired, weary, and decided to take a vacation. The problem is:

seeds need tending

especially newly sowed seeds

I left... right after planting those small seeds.
Why? The reasons reveal just how weak... selfish... sinful.... and just how far I still have to go. 

A lesson I've learned:

The God I serve does not stop tending His seeds

I may run... I may stop working in the fields with Him, yet He still faithfully works.

Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

I am His. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. There is nothing I can ever do... nowhere I could ever go that would ever take me away from Him. I may let go of Him, but He never lets go of me. I am His vessel and He will use me for His purpose. 

And He has used me. In mighty ways. I see changes taking place around me that are a result of seeds God has sowed partly through my life. Then I stop and realize that those things happened while I was resisting Him.

If I stopped resisting and worked alongside Him, the impact would be even greater.

We sang a song this morning based on a passage in Jeremiah and so as I sought for a way to end this post I searched through this great book, and found this:

While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer.

Jeremiah 7:13

That's a very clear picture of rebellion. You know the funny thing about rebellion is that while your in it it looks so good, makes so much sense. However, when you start to realize it for what it is it's not so good looking anymore. In fact it's rather disgusting  and sounds really stupid. I guess it's somewhat reassuring that I'm not the first one to ignore the Almighty. The Israelite's did, over and over again. As I read the accounts of their lives I often forget that I act just like them. It's so easy to point out other's  faults rather then my own.

Thankfully He still loves us..... even though time and time again I leave Him to tend those seeds by Himself. Life with Him should be so easy... I give Him everything and in return I become His daughter, receiving the best of the land, things I could only dream of. 

It is I that makes life complicated... not Him. It is I that leave, seeking to gain my inheritance my way, like Jacob who stole his brother's birthright which God already planned on giving him. If Jacob would have waited on God's timing he would of received the same blessing yet without destroying his family. It's upsetting to see how much like Jacob I am. So many times I think that my way is better. That He won't give me the things He has promised, or maybe that He doesn't know what it is that I want. Whatever the reason, it's dumb! I'm dumb! Stupid sinful nature likes to think it knows best.... sigh.... why can't I just give up the fight and let Him win? Why do I have to be so stubborn, so hard headed? Sometimes I wonder why He made this way...lol. I ask Him that I often when I'm arguing with Him. Then I laugh because I know that He loves my stubbornness and hardheadedness, just He prefers that I use them to glorify Him and not argue with Him.

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

Jeremiah 33:3

So today this battle ends... I surrender. I'm done with serving the enemy. I'm ready to come home and work in the fields. I'm not listening to my flesh anymore. I'm not letting the enemy win anymore. Today I will fight him with all I have. I will rely on Him for my strength and even when I get weary I will not give up for I know that at the proper time I will reap a harvest, but only if I do not give up.