This morning I “randomly” felt like reading the book of Daniel. I have probably only read it once, and don’t consider myself really familiar with this particular book.
As I read it, I found that it was not random at all. The past couple days, as we have completed pear harvest, I have been reminded of God’s sovereignty and continually called back to humility, as I ponder how well this year went. It’s easy to slip into a mindset of patting each other on the back for adhering to the best farming practices, investing and spending money wisely, thinking ahead with careful forethought about the coming years, and very quickly we elevate our role in this whole deal.
Did we create the trees? Did we determine the weather patterns? Did we craft the scientific minds who labor to produce food safe treatments to rid the crops of pests?
No. No. & No.
Many people suffered loss to hail. We did not. Many people suffered damage from wind. We did not. We drove past many orchards infested with mites. Ours was not. Many people struggled, and continue to struggle, to find an adequate labor force to pick their fruit. We had a lean crew for 5 days and then, bam- all the help we needed showed up right at our front door.
It turned out to be the 2nd largest crop we’ve ever had.
Not one detail of the year escaped His sovereign hand. Daniel 4:35 says: ‘ He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” ‘
When I ponder these attributes of God, He makes me nervous. It’s easy to read those things and think of Him as some cruel dictator who runs us all around like puppets on a string.
However, that could not be further from the truth. His mercy is spread across the pages of Scripture. Even in the Old Testament, where God often has the reputation of being unkind, unmerciful, and pretty detached from humankind.
But, as I read the first part of Daniel, and the story of King Nebuchadnezzar, it was very evident that God is not lacking mercy. King Nebuchadnezzar was an idolatrous king who spurned the one true God. At one point he ordered three men to be thrown into a fiery furnace because they did not worship the giant golden statue that he had cast of his own image. They remained faithful to the one true God. Those guys were saved from the flames, even though they were thrown into them full on, and the guys that had to throw them down into the furnace died because the heat was raging. Nebuchadnezzar even SAW 4 men, not 3, walking around in the midst of the flames of the furnace. The fourth was described by Nebuchadnezzar as looking like a “son of the gods”. He was convinced after they emerged alive from the flames, that the God they worshipped must be the true God, and even declared a decree that no one could speak against this God. However, he himself still did not bend his knee to this “Most High God” in worship and submission.
Maybe God would be done trying to get to Nebuchadnezzar after that? Wouldn’t your patience have run out? You just gave the guy an OBVIOUS sign.
But no. The God of the Universe, in his mercy, allows King Nebuchadnezzar to go as crazy as a wild animal (literally), have his Kingdom removed from him, and live in the woods in complete insanity. Immediately before Nebuchadnezzar is sent on his mental health exile, he is walking around on the roof of his royal palace, overlooking Babylon and congratulating himself for the empire he’s built. In his words he built by his “mighty power and for the glory of my majesty”. That’s when God took him out. Proverbs 16:18 says “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall”.
The real clincher here, is that King Nebuchadnezzar actually knew this was coming if he didn’t repent and worship God. He had a dream that mapped all of this out for him, brought in an interpreter of dreams named Daniel, and knew EXACTLY what he was in for if he didn’t get off of his self-appointed throne. He persisted in his ways.
At the end of his time spent living in the woods acting like an animal, his sanity is given back to him. King Nebuchadnezzar says this: “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride, he is able to humble”. (emphasis mine)
God will give us ample opportunity to acknowledge him, worship him, and glorify him. It’s not that we have a lack of opportunity. We are just prone to worship ourselves instead. We want all the power, all the glory, all the authority over our own lives. In America we call this-success, autonomy, choice, etc. And in most cases this pursuit of our self and our glory is highly esteemed. It’s a path to despair and ruin, no matter how fantastic those fleeting moments of glory and fame feel.
The good news is, we have a patient God who gives us so many chances to turn and acknowledge Him, and glorify Him as the provider of everything on this planet, and every breath in our lungs. You just read that sentence because God literally gave you that last breath. He could take your life at any second. The fact that you’re reading right this moment is evidence of His mercy toward you.
God’s existence and glorification are not contingent upon our intellectual assessment of whether or not He is real, or if He deserves to be worshipped. He is on the throne either way. God does not need us to praise Him. In Luke chapter 19 verse 40, Jesus responds to some Pharisees who want Him to silence his disciples for praising Him with reckless abandon. Jesus’ response? “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” It is our privilege to be invited into a relationship with God, not the other way around.
How do we turn and worship Him? How do we even encounter the presence of an eternal, Holy God? The cross. Our debt of sin, self righteousness, and all-out rebellion was atoned for at the Cross by the God-man, Jesus Christ, who never sinned. He sacrificed his perfect life, once, for ALL people. No one is excluded. The only exclusion is for those who will not humbly receive.
All of this came from me thinking about pear harvest? Yes. Because I am the first in line to want to take the credit that God is due. It’s a continual journey that I’m on, to recognize that I’m not the one running the show here.
Whether or not we have a fantastic crop, or if we get completely wiped out by hail, God is good. His plans are perfect. He is in control of it all, and he simply asks for our trust, and that we would keep our eyes fixed on the eternal rather than the temporal. Because when we are able to do that (though it’s incredibly difficult and I struggle with it all the time), things like fame, glory, wealth, and even comfort, seem like not that big of a deal.
So now is the test. The pears are off of the tree, if the market is steady this year, we stand to receive a good return. Will we use the returns to make much of ourselves? Or will we use the returns to seek God and see what He would have us do. There is a whole planet full of people he loves. I can’t imagine that he’s given us so much, just for us to use on ourselves.
Oh God let us be faithful in this. The temptation for “more” is ever-present, and oh so subtle.
All the Glory to the loving, eternal, sovereign, creator God of the Universe.
My father at one time had a pear orchard.I Love this article it really shines a whole new perspective on Pear Harvest. Thank You so much for putting on the internet!
Posted by: Pam Harkins | Monday, 23 September 2013 at 07:54 PM