Daily Lesson for February 5, 2015

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah 55 verses 10 and 11:

10 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

Sometime ago, I was speaking with a friend from church whose mother had passed away.  My friend was uncertain about whether or not her mother had been a Christian.  Her mother had suffered from a long bout of dementia, which precluded them from talking about God, death, and afterlife at the end of life; before that they just never spoke of spiritual things. I could tell it was a grief in my friend's life not to have share these things which are so important to her with her mother. 

Yet at the same time, there was also a deep peace within my friend's spirit about her mom -- a deep, abiding trust in the goodness and trustworthiness of God.  She quoted words from today's lesson. "At the end of the day, now that all is said and done," my friend told me, "I am holding on to the promises of Isaiah 55:11:

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

Jesus said the kingdom of God is like a man who goes out and plants seed and then comes home and sleeps.  Only the who who trusts in the goodness of the seed can be at peace enough to sleep and not fret. Only the one who trusts in the goodness of the word can be at peace enough to trust someone they love with God and trust God with that loved one.

In the end, the seed will blossom and the unseen harvest will come. Ultimately, The Lord of the harvest brings things to life -- even from a long, long sleep in the very depths of the earth.

This is God's promise; and it shall not return empty.

"In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see."