When God Thunders - Martin Wiles

The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded amid the hail and burning coals. Psalm 18:13 NLT

We counted—1 1,000, 2 1,000, 3 1000—and then ran for cover. 

One church my father pastored was populated by farming families, one of whom grew hundreds of acres of watermelons. When the watermelon farmer offered me a part-time job in the afternoons, I accepted. 

The fields were shrouded with weeds as tall as I was. Humidity sweltered, and I sweated and choked for air as I heaved the watermelons onto the back of the farm truck. The midsummer climate made conditions perfect for afternoon thunderstorms. When we saw the first flash of lightning, we counted. Three seconds equaled a mile. If we didn’t get to 3 1,000s before we heard the clap of thunder, we ran for whatever cover we could find.

I’ve repeated the same procedure while hiking in the mountains. Thunder is the sound of lightning, and though the chances of being struck by lightning are slim, the chances increase when I’m in an unprotected environment. 

When the psalmist described God’s approach to deal with his enemies, he chose the sound of thunder. Thunder is frightening because of its association with lightning. And God’s power can be just as frightening or comforting—depending on whether I’m His friend or enemy. 

Thunder can be a low rumble or an ear-piercing clap. The first doesn’t normally frighten me, but the second sends me scurrying for cover. Hearing God can be similar. Sometimes his voice heard in my spirit is loud and clear, while at other times it’s barely perceptible. 

Unconfessed sin will keep us from hearing God, but sin isn’t the only thing that makes his voice sound like a rumble instead of a loud clap. Busyness, misplaced priorities, and selfishness can all play a part. 

Several conclusions, however, do bring comfort. God is continuously speaking to our spirits. Things in our lives may soften his whisper, but he speaks nevertheless. God wants us to hear him. When we don’t, we tend to do things our way, which leads us astray. Preparing daily to hear God is crucial. Beginning the morning with a prayer asking him to speak clearly and to help you hear clearly helps. Praying on the armor he provides is also a good follow-up (Ephesians 6:11-18). 

Do whatever is necessary to hear God when he thunders.

Father, enable me to hear you clearly when you speak from the heavens. 

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Hemmed In - Martin Wiles

You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Psalm 139:5 NIV

The fence was there for a purpose—not just for looks. 

The first house I lived in was situated on two acres of land just outside of town. Gardening and farming had always been in my blood—I suppose because both of my grandfathers had, so I decided to set up a small farm. I bought twenty chickens, two goats, and two hogs. 

But before buying any of my animals, I erected two fences. A six-foot high fence for the chickens, complete with one-by-fours around the bottom. For the hogs, I put up hog wire and fastened it to the ground with stakes. Although I’d had none of these animals before, I knew their tendency. My maternal grandfather raised hogs, and I watched as they continuously tried to root under the fence. Since goats go over, I topped the fence with barbed wire. I’d watched my maternal grandmother raise chickens, so I knew they loved to fly over a fence and roost up high. 

I didn’t hem my animals in because I wanted to make their lives miserable. Just the opposite. I knew if they got out, they might be killed by other animals, get run over on the highway, or be tempted to go into the neighbor’s yard and root up everything. The fence protected them.

The psalmist also knew God hemmed him in for a reason. He was hemmed in by God’s commands and principles, as well as by his daily interactions. He enjoyed being hemmed in. 

As God’s child, God also hems us in. Instead of looking at his commands and principles as cruel and cumbersome—things given to make our lives miserable—we can see them as being for our good. Like my hogs and goats, we tend to root under God’s commands and jump over his principles. Things on the other side look more appealing. 

But God knows what’s best. That’s why he gave guiding ideologies. And that’s why he gently brings us back into the fence with his discipline when we get out. He loves us and wants us to experience the best in life, which we won’t know if we go over or under what he’s put there to hem us. 

Learn to live within the hemming boundaries of what God has erected. He provides the fences for your good, not your detriment. 

Father, thank you for hemming me in so I won’t wander on paths I’d be better off leaving alone. 

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The Flower Gardens - Patricia Jordan

Then he carved all the walls of the temple all around, both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. 1 Kings 6:29 NKJV

Walking through the flower gardens brings me immense joy. These are special trips to be remembered, and I notice every flower the gardeners grow.

Trips to the local nurseries, especially in the early summer, excite me as much as planning for our vacation. I have three flower beds that I sow every year: zinnias for butterflies, marigolds to keep gnats and other bugs away from our deck, and daisies and black-eyed Susans because they’re dependable. Blooming hydrangeas line the side of our house, the lavender I cut back last fall is coming back, and the bees love my hyssop. The deer can’t wait for my daylilies to bloom. I barely enjoy them before Bambi and her extensive family find them and bite off the beautiful orange flowers. 

For me, a peaceful walk around my flowers, including butterfly weed, yarrow patches, and hostas that dot our yard, is a peaceful way to start and end my day. I ensure the sand in each of the pie tins is moist enough so that butterflies and bees can drink water. I also refill the birds' water daily with clean water so they can bathe and stay hydrated.

My mother always grew something. Sometimes, it was just house plants in our rented houses. When we five kids were almost grown, my parents launched a successful business. With their profit, they built their own house on a spacious acre and a half. That’s when Mom’s green thumb really took off. My oldest brother tilled her flower and vegetable gardens, and together they planted everything. Mom’s yard was always beautiful.

In the design of Solomon’s Temple, God directed the builders to include open flowers in the interior design. The Temple flowers were carved into the paneled walls, which were made from the cedars of Lebanon. Flowers are a part of God’s plan for a beautiful area, whether it be small or large. 

When possible, practice smelling flowers daily. And plant some, too. 

Heavenly Father, I thank you for providing us with landscapes that hold so much natural beauty. And yet how much more have you provided for us than you do for the flowers. 

Patricia Jordan is a writer. 

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Stubborn Is as Stubborn Does - Martin Wiles

Then they will not be like their ancestors—stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God. Psalm 78:8 NLT

Something magical happened when my grandfather whispered the words, “Giddy up.”

I’ve seen only a few mules in my lifetime. Yet being familiar with the saying, “stubborn as a mule,” gives me a clue about their personality. My grandfather knew mules and their nature. His father died when he was twelve, leaving him to run the family farm. An uncle helped him, but for some reason, mules didn’t appreciate Uncle Ransom. When he gave the command to “giddy up,” they didn’t budge—at least, most of the time. Or if they did, they stubbornly plowed a crooked row. When my grandfather asked, however, they plowed in straight rows. Something in Uncle Ransom’s nature brought out the stubbornness of the mule’s nature.

Later, after my grandfather gave up farming and began delivering ice, then milk, and finally ice cream, he encountered stubbornness once again—and benefited from it. Some business owners were quite challenging to work with because of their stubborn nature. What other salesmen couldn’t deal with and threw up their hands to, my grandfather confronted with his patient nature and won them over as customers.

God also encountered stubbornness, but not so much in pagans. He discovered it in his chosen people. The people he had called out from among all people groups of the world. The people to whom he delivered the Promised Land. The people He delivered from four hundred years of slavery. Instead of worshipping Him, they often stubbornly followed the wicked ways of their unbelieving neighbors.

I can name a few times when I’ve been stubborn as well. Wanted to do things my way instead of God’s way. Thought I knew best. God gave me good examples to follow, and I stubbornly chose the bad instead.

Stubbornness keeps us out of God’s will. Like a mule, we’ll refuse to budge toward God’s revealed will, or we’ll plow a crooked row of inconsistency in obedience. When we’re out of God’s will, paucity follows. God’s blessings can’t—or won’t—flow when we’re living in stubborn disobedience.

God suggests a cure: remember his blessings of the past and obey his commands. When we do this, we’ll “giddy up”—and gladly, when God whispers the command.

Don’t let stubbornness cause you to miss out on God’s best.

Father, deal with my stubborn nature, making it pliable, so I’ll willingly obey what you tell me.

 

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Help Wanted - Martin Wiles

The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. Pray to the Lord . . . and ask him to send out more workers for his fields. Luke 10:2 NLT

I heard their help wanted plea, so I took the job. They needed help—and I needed more money.

Picking watermelons was one task I’d never undertaken. I had recently moved to a farming community where one of my fellow church members grew watermelons commercially. The owner had only one regular employee but hired extra hands during watermelon season. When he asked if I wanted to be one of the extra hands, I agreed.

Little did I know it would mean sweltering in one-hundred-degree temperatures in fields clothed with stagnant air. I also didn’t know I’d have to work bent over, rising only to toss the melon to the person waiting in the back of the farm truck that meandered down each aisle. After loading a truck, we’d drive back to the farmer’s home where an eighteen-wheeler waited. Here, we’d unload what we had just loaded. One summer was all I needed to realize we needed extra help.

The harvest Jesus spoke about wasn’t a nice crop of watermelons. Souls were on his mind. He was sending His disciples out into a world where the majority of the people were unbelievers. They had never heard of Jesus—which was possible since He’d only been around thirty or so years—or they had chosen to disbelieve He was the Messiah.

Every church could hang a sign over their doorway reading, “Help Wanted.” Most of the time, pay isn’t involved, but they need the help, nevertheless. While we have more means to preach the gospel message now than ever, the need to tell it is just as critical as in the first century. Technology helps us spread the good news faster and more effectively, but the world is still filled with those who need to hear and respond.

The disciples’ earlier decision to follow Jesus indicated their willingness to apply for the “Help Wanted” position. They would encounter opposition, ridicule, unbelief, and persecution. Some would be martyred. But they went, nevertheless. We should do the same.

Have you answered God’s help wanted ad? How can you share this ad with others?

Father, open my eyes to the harvest around me. Then give me the courage to go.

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Harvesting Joy - Martin Wiles

The grapevines have dried up, and the fig trees have withered. The pomegranate trees, palm trees, and apple trees—all the fruit trees—have dried up. And the people’s joy has dried up with them. Joel 1:12 NLT

Had the harvest dried up, so would have my grandfathers’ joy.

At twelve years of age, my paternal grandfather inherited a farm. Not because he wanted it, but because his father unexpectedly died, and my grandfather was the oldest boy still at home. With the help of an uncle, and some cantankerous mules, they made a go of the farm. Had the harvest not come in due to unfortunate circumstances, the situation would have devastated my grandfather, his mother, and his brother and sisters, causing their joy to evaporate.

Mom’s dad was also a farmer, but not by force. He chose the occupation and relished every moment of it. He loved to watch cows calve, hogs birth piglets, cotton reveal fluffy white bowls, and soybeans fill their pods. But his joy, too, would have melted away had the harvest not come in. My grandmother didn’t work outside the home. Income from the farm was all they had. A bad harvest meant loss of money—or having to borrow from the bank until next year’s harvest came in.

Famers anticipate the harvest, and when it doesn’t come—for whatever reason—joy vanishes. Joel wrote to those steeped in an agricultural economy—an economy that locusts and drought had destroyed. And while both were an act of nature, they were an act of nature God had sent to punish the people’s disobedience. Now their joy had vanished.

We may use the words joy and happiness interchangeably, but they’re really not. Happiness relates to my circumstances. If everything is going my way, I’m happy. If adverse circumstances haunt me, I’m not.

Joy is happiness taken to a higher level. Joy has nothing to do with my circumstances. This is why Paul could tell us to rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4). I can experience a financial meltdown and still have joy. I can see loved ones die, contract a terminal disease, be abandoned by a spouse, have children rebel, or lose everything I have and still have a sense of joy in my heart.

And not because I can manufacture joy myself, but because God places it deep within my soul when I connect with Him through faith. Joy comes from believing that He controls my circumstances—good and bad—and that He will work things out for my benefit and His glory.

Don’t let circumstances keep you from harvesting joy.

Prayer: Spirit of God, we thank You for giving us an abiding joy, even through the trials of life.

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As Stubborn As… - Martin Wiles

Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control. Psalm 32:9 NLT

“Gitty up” meant nothing when Uncle Ransom said it.

My grandfather’s dad died when my grandfather was twelve years old, leaving him as the man of the house to run the family farm. One brother and a number of sisters still lived at home, and his mother needed his help. But at twelve years of age, he couldn’t run the farm alone.

His favorite uncle, Ransom, agreed to help. Plowing fields with mules could be gratifying or aggravating. For Ransom, it was the latter. Perhaps his temperament didn’t jive well with the mule’s. Maybe he used words they didn’t appreciate or gave commands with tones they detested. When Ransom plowed, the mule either balked or plowed a crooked row. But with my grandfather, things differed. He had a pleasant voice and a kind demeanor. When he commanded the mules, they did as he asked: gittied up and plowed straight.

The psalmist prefaces his command with a promise from the Lord: “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you” (Psalm 32:8). But often I’m like the senseless horse or stubborn mule when He tries to guide me.

In spite of our stubbornness, God wills to guide us along the best pathway. He does so because He loves us and has our best interests at heart. We are His masterpieces, capable of great evil or capable of great good. He will lead us to accomplish the latter if we’ll place ourselves under His watchful care.

God also has the power to lead us along pathways that enhance the good parts of our nature. He created us in His image, and, though sin has marred that image, He can still form us into creations who mimic His attitudes and actions if we allow Him. He is an all-powerful God, able to do supernatural things. Among them, changing our stubborn wills.

And God wants to lead us along these wonderful pathways. He is a God of love who adores us with all of His heart and who wants us to love Him in return with our whole hearts. He doesn’t enjoy seeing us suffer unnecessarily because we have strayed from the paths of righteousness.

Don’t be as stubborn as a mule. Listen to God. He’ll take you down life’s best pathways.

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Prayer: Father, turn our hearts toward You, so we will follow Your pathways obediently. 

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Contented - Martin Wiles

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. Philippians 4:11 NLT

I only knew him fifteen years, but I never saw him dissatisfied.

My mom’s dad—Pappy we called him—died a few weeks after I turned fifteen. Although I only knew him a short time, I never detected dissatisfaction in his life.

My grandfather enjoyed small-farm living. He relished in his old farmhouse instead of building a nice new one. A small red tractor and field hands worked his farm. He didn’t need to go into debt to buy fancy farm equipment. Even though he owned two vehicles—a truck for him and a car for my grandmother—he bought them used. He also contented himself with hundreds of acres of land rather than thousands.

I never saw Pappy get in a hurry, no matter what dotted the day’s agenda. He rose early in the morning, sat on the porch to watch the sun rise, and then ambled down to the small-town store to talk with fellow farmers. He never drove over twenty-five miles per hour. He lived life with little, but enjoyed the most from every moment.

Paul learned the same trick. Sometimes, he had much. At other times, he had little. Regardless, he learned contentment in spite of his circumstances.

I’ve not always mimicked my grandfather . . . or Paul. I’ve piled up debt trying to have what others have, attempting to get stuff I thought would make me happy. But the older I get, the more I realize gratification isn’t about possessions.

Contentment lies in wanting what God wants for me. God blesses some with large amounts of money and material possessions. Others barely have enough to get by. Why the difference, I don’t know—and God doesn’t say. Our job is being content with what He gives.

When we learn not to let others’ demands control us—peer pressure it’s called—we’ll enjoy serenity. Only what God pressures us to have and do is important.

Contentment also comes when we want those things that advance God’s Kingdom. Ultimately, that’s our primary responsibility and the thing that leads to satisfaction, regardless of our life situation.

Nor should trials affect our happiness. They are temporary, controlled by God, and have purpose. Seeing them through those lenses helps us endure them without losing our serenity.

This year, let God teach you how to enjoy contentment, regardless of what comes your way.

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Prayer: Father, teach us to be satisfied with what You give us. 

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