Isaiah 28

“Listen and hear my voice.  Pay attention and hear my words.  Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed?  Does he continually turn and break up his ground?  Does he not level its surface and sow dill and scatter cumin and plant wheat in rows, barley in its place and rye within its area?  For his God instructs and teaches him properly.  For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is the cartwheel driven over cumin; but dill is beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a club.  Grain for bread is crushed, indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.  Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually damage it, He does not thresh it longer.  This also comes from the Lord of armies.  Who  has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.”  Isaiah 28:23-29 (NASB)

Today’s chapter ends with a more promising note.  A farmer doesn’t keep on plowing indefinitely.  He sows in order to reap.  

Has God been “turning your soil,” lately perhaps, mixing in a bit of “manure” to boot?  God is preparing you as a farmer prepares the land to yield a bountiful crop of spiritual fruit!  Spiritual discipline is what this chapter has all been about.  Those who see the Father’s hand in it will profit.  Yes, it involves hardship.

“Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons.  For what son is there that a father does not discipline?”  Hebrews 12:7 (HCSB)

It is also unpleasant and painful.

“No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”  Hebrews 12:11 (HCSB)

God’s discipline is revealed in a variety of ways; like a farmer who plows and sows, The Lord deals differently with particular children in order to produce a harvest of grace.  He may rebuke us through the reading of His Word. (2 Timothy 4:2)  He may use sickness. (Romans 5:3-4)  Sometimes, He even uses Satan himself.  Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was also a “messenger of Satan.” (2 Corinthians 12:7)  That is the lesson of the book of Job.

To those who have eyes to see, there is a smiling face below the surface of a (seemingly) frowning God.  Our lives, even when under discipline, are ordered by a God who is “wonderful in counsel” and “gives great wisdom.”  God is preparing us, teaching us to faithfully endure pain and trust in Him so that we can stand firm to administer the gospel at a time when others are being crushed by the weight of this World.  

Endure His training.  Nobody trusts when a poorly trained, out-of-shape soldier says, “I got your back!”  Nor do they heed the rhetoric of the undisciplined Christian.  

“Consider it great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4 (HCSB)