Fields of Light

Friday, August 16, 2024

Good morning, Lord

Verse of the Day: "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." 2 Corinthians 9:7 (NIV)

Memory verse: Psalm 42:2(New American Bible )

"My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When can I enter and see the face of God?"

Today's reading: Psalm 97-99 Romans 16

Fields of Light

Psalm 97:11 Light is sown in the just(righteous);

    as it grows, it brings joy to the pure of heart.

My hands were small then. I held on to the back of my grandfather's kakhi shirt and rode standing beside him as he patiently held the steering wheel of the old 'M' Farmall. Even though he was paid through a subsidy program to plow up a certain part of a crop, even a child could see that it bothered him.

He would ask, "Can you see it yet?" I looked straight ahead and strained to see but I did not yet know what I was looking for. He had tied a white rag on a stick standing to mark the boundary. It finally came into my sight and that's where we turned the corner.

I would that we could reproduce the smell that surrounds you when you plow black land and milo on the back of a tractor without a cab. There is no other smell like that smell of the mixture of black, green, and an old farmer's shoulder.

There is peace and there is joy in those memories. A place the Lord allows my mind to remember in color, sight, sound, smell and love. The Lord wants us all to know that kind of peace and contentment as much as possible. Today, in Psalm 97, it says,

11 Light is sown in the just(righteous);

    as it grows, it brings joy to the pure of heart.

12 Celebrate the Eternal God, all you who are faithful;

    offer thanks to His holy name.

The Lord sows light and gladness. We must get into the fields and work them to harvest--but the Lord's harvest, for the righteous and upright in heart, is absolute and real.

Being a 'dry-land' farmer was always a struggle for my grandparents. Life was hard a lot of the time, really hard. They farmed right through the great depression. I never saw any man more at peace than my humble grandfather-because the Lord Jesus was more to him than just a name on the page.

The Lord was his light and his gladness.

The Lord desires for us all to live in His light and gladness. He has sown it in the fields so it will grow into joy for us all as we work and harvest.

Psalm 97:12 Celebrate(be glad in) the Eternal God, all you who are faithful; offer thanks to His holy name.

Be glad. Humble yourself before God as you confess and you will have something to celebrate. It may take a while for you to believe that God has made your heart pure. This is a hard thing for those of us that were once wild and thought we had all the answers at one time. But remember, Psalm 97:11 says that God's light is sown-like seeds-to grow. His light and joy is a growing and vibrant thing that is to be tended. This divine crop is tended by our humility and truth before Him...

At His feet...

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven,

Forgive me for carrying the worries and anxieties of this worldly life. I want to get into the field and tend your light and gladness. Take me there, oh God.

Great God of joy and light!

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen