Matt 18:3-4 – “3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.“
Christ said one does not enter into heaven unless they become as a child. Very serious! But what does that mean?
Puritan Thomas Manton gives what I believe is an insightful examination of this, based on Psalm 131, the full text of which you can read here:
Psalm 131
1 Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.
2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.
3 Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever.
From Thomas Manton:
Now let us open the similitude, and show wherein it holdeth good. David behaved himself, and quieted himself – (1.) As a child ; (2.) As a weaned child.
1. As a child. A child is not troubled with ambitious thoughts: Mat. xviii. 3, ‘Except ye be converted, and become as little children,’ etc. A little child knoweth not what striving for state [status] meaneth. The inclinations and desires of carnal ambition are very contrary to the christian temper, namely, seeking after dominions, dignities, and honours.
So Christ would confute his disciples’ pride; as if he had said, You strive for worldly greatness and preeminence in my kingdom; but my kingdom is a kingdom of babes, and containeth none but the humble, and such as are little in their own eyes, and are contented to be small and despised in the eyes of others, and to look not after great matters in the world. Thus would Christ take them off from the vain ambition and pursuit of esteem and worldly honour, and the expectations of a carnal kingdom.
And is it not necessary still that we should become as little children? A great part of the work of grace is to take down our pride, and make us little in our own eyes. We should all prove ourselves to be children of God by the lowliness of our hearts and sobriety of our carriage, and submission to all God’s dispensations, and desire no higher condition than God would bring us into by the fair invitation of his providence. We must put ourselves into the posture of a feeble impotent child, without ambition, without covetousness, looking wholly to be directed, supported, and enabled by God.
2. Why as a weaned child.
[1.] A weaned child is taken off from the breast and its natural food; so when the Lord is pleased to withhold from us what we expected, and to keep us in a low and afflicted condition, we must patiently submit to God’s will and pleasure, and be contented to be what God will have us to be. Oh, how well were it for us if we were weaned from the world’s breasts! Certainly then temptations would be plucked up by the roots. How easily should we please God, and press on to everlasting glory, worldly and fleshly lusts [desires] mortified! By some bitterness or other the weaned child is driven from the breast, and it useth it no more.
Oh, that a christian were as soon weaned from the world, and might grow dead to the honours, riches, and pleasures of it! and could say with the apostle, ‘I am crucified to the world, and the world is crucified to me,’ Gal. vi. 14.
Few are taken off from the dug [udder, teat] by the bitterest wormwood that can be laid upon it; they are still sucking here, though they suck but wind; and, after many disappointments, still return to the love of the world, as their natural milk. It is a prodigy for a child to keep sucking till thirteen or fourteen years; we are as greedy at fifty or sixty years as we were before. The world by nature is sweet to us; the bitterness of affliction doth not wean us from it; and after all the warnings that we cannot love the Father if we love the world, 1 John ii. 15, yet we love the world still. In death it is made bitter to us, for then the world passeth away, and the lusts [desires] thereof; then we cry out on the world, how it hath deceived us, and tempted this rebelling flesh to neglect God and higher duties. But then it is questionable whether we are weaned or driven from the dug [udder, teat]. Surely it becometh us to be weaned sooner.
[2.] The weaned child can do nothing for itself, but is provided for by the care of another; so should we look upon ourselves as a most feeble and impotent child, able to do nothing of ourselves; but after we have weaned ourselves from our natural affections and desires, wholly be sensible of our necessities, emptiness, and weakness to shift [move, even slightly] for ourselves, leaving all to God: Ps. xl. 17, ‘I am poor and needy, but the Lord thinketh upon me.’ We may be despised of the world and contemned of the world, but that doth not make us loathsome to God. Yea, the lower we are brought, the more is his care engaged for us. The empty, the destitute, who have not the dug [udder, teat] to live upon, are devolved upon the Lord, that he may take care of them.
[3.] Though the weaned child have not what it would have, or what it naturally most desireth, the milk of the breast, yet it is contented with what the mother giveth; it rests upon her love and provision. So are we to be content with what providence alloweth us: Heb. xiii. 5, ‘Let your conversation [behavior/life] be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have;’ and Phil. iv. 11, ‘I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.’ Whatever pleaseth our heavenly Father should please us.
The child that is put from the breast to an harder diet is yet contented at last. The children of princes know not what the swelling of pride, the honour of the world meaneth. The child doth not prescribe what it will eat, drink, or put on. They are in no care for enlarging possessions, heaping up riches, aspiring after dignities and honours, but meekly take what is provided for them.
[4.] The child, when he has lost the food which nature provideth for it, is not solicitous, but wholly referreth itself to the mother, hangeth upon the mother. So for everything whatsoever should we depend upon God, refer ourselves to God, and expect all things from him: Ps. lxii. 5, ‘My soul, wait thou upon God; my expectation is from him.’ With such a simplicity of submission should we rest and depend upon God.
Let us take heed of being overwise and provident for ourselves, but trust our Father which is in heaven, and refer ourselves to his wise and holy government.
Thus you see here is a perfect emblem –
(1.) Of self-denial; for the child is weaned, taken off from what it most affects [fancies]. So we must not look to be satisfied in our childish will and appetite; we must be weaned, and put from the breast to an harder diet.
(2.) Of humility, or a sense of our impotency and nothingness; for the child cannot shift for itself, so neither can we. We are weak and witless all of us, as are little children, and know not what is good for us, nor how to provide it, but are merely cast upon the care of another.
(3.) Contentedness and resignation to the will of God, who is our provider. The more impotent, the more entitled to God’s care.
(4.) Of dependence and quiet recumbency [leaning/resting] on God in any state or condition whatsoever; for we must cast the whole care of affairs upon him.
Oh, happy we if we could thus be children!
May God grant us this child-like humility; may He wean us from and change our desires for the dainties of Vanity Fair — the useless and time-wasting (Eph 5:16) carnal and sense-driven pleasures and riches of the world; and may He grant us resignation, contentedness, thankfulness and trust in Him for how He providentially brings our lives forth during our time here.
Ps 73:25-26 – “25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. 26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.“
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face; And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace.
If you’re interesting in going deeper on this, we invite you to go through some series we’ve recorded on YouTube during our holy reading times on Lord’s days:
I’ve heard this before, in the context of how one lives their life. For example, “Oh, you don’t have to live such and such way…it’s not salvific!”
I agree it does not merit anything for salvation. However, salvation is a process. It starts with God’s sovereign act of changing the dead heart to a living one, a passive act on man’s part, and it continues throughout the life of the person, ending in glory. That time in the middle is the sanctification process, something the Holy Spirit does in the life of the individual by making them more holy, or Christ-like, which is by giving the person Christ’s graces, the fruit of the Spirit:
Gal 5:22-23 – “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Faith and love are the main drivers of the Christian, and with those comes obedience to God in His direction in the Bible, and the Bible would have Christians not love the world and not be conformed to it:
1 John 2:15 – “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Rom 12:2 – “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Using the example of how one dresses, the Bible would have Christians dress modestly. And in that modesty, given the world in its view on life and how to live it is one of a Christian’s main enemies (along with Satan and a person’s own carnal man), why would a Christian want to be as close to the way the world dresses, without supposedly stepping over the line, and not be as far away from the way the world does things, like Lot and his family escaping Sodom, not looking back desiring to be closer to it…like Lot’s wife?
So, Christianity requires OBEDIENCE to these commands, which (obedience) stems from love for Christ, which is a fruit of the Spirit, which brings sanctification, in the process of SALVATION!
Further, as I mentioned, a Christian’s enemy is his carnal man, which I believe is a person’s greatest enemy:
1 Pet 2:11 – “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts [desires], which war against the soul;”
Our carnal man is at war with the soul. Part of our duty in our Christian walk is to war against our spiritual enemies.
As graces grow, the carnal man is brought lower and lower in the mortification (death-bringing) process of that carnal man. The means of denying the carnal man we have been talking about can help in that process. Again with dress, dressing modestly can help curb pride and vanity, things contrary to God, His nature and holiness. Mortification is a duty of ourselves, and as with graces, it is a work of the Spirit in the sanctification process, for which He uses means. And then, why wouldn’t a Christian want to dress in a way that brings the most mortification of pride and vanity, coming against sin in the strongest way possible?
Why would a Christian feed its enemy? A Christian should not, and ignoring this can be eternally dangerous:
Gal 6:8 – “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
And so, while nothing we do in our lives merits salvation, there are means of sanctification in the salvation process, and it is important for a professing Christian to consider how he/she live their life in light of the Bible’s directions and how Christ lived His.
On Sue and my area of the land, we have about an 11-acre field. As part of our continued separation from dependence on the world, I’ve wanted to get it into something perennial, where I didn’t have to plow it anymore, or seed it, or what have you. A few years ago, I tried planting B-dahl, but that didn’t work at all. Finally this year, I was really hoping to try again, with some sort of grass, but wasn’t sure what direction to go. I really prayed the Lord might grant that direction. Over time, and through discussions with local grass planters/experts, I decided to go with something that should have been obvious all along, because it works so well out here in drought weather, and is actually hard to get rid of. Although it is given a bad name because of that, and because if you’re not careful, at times of injury to it, it can be toxic to animals, Johnson grass grows really well out here. That seemed perfect for what we were trying to do with that field.
We decided on a cheaper variant, which apparently will cross-pollinate with the Johnson grass, called sorghum almum. On the advice of the seed-seller, we mixed in some millet, because he suggested the sorghum almum might only sprout 50% until going through a winter cold, which apparently helps its seed germinate better, and having things sprout now was important in trying to fend off the weeds growing instead.
After plowing up the field, it was time to plant. I tried using the grain drill, but ended up going through half the seed in just two times around the outer edge of the field. So, I had to go get more seed, and figure out a way we could plant it….which for us ended up being by hand tossing. But, we also needed a way to sort of cover the seed once sown by scattering, and so I threw together a little contraption to drag behind the truck, using our goat shed caddy.
We had originally tried to just drag it as we normally would, but it didn’t really produce a light covering. And so, we tried to go about it a different way.
Here it is wired to the truck, facing in reverse:
And then I wrapped a chain around the back to create “fingers”:
The chain was held in place by screws:
And the dragging chains were wired to created the “fingers”:
And here it is ready to go:
This was Sue’s planting chariot seat while I drove:
Once planted it was just pray for rain, and that God might bring forth the growth.
God did bring some rains, although in large doses spaced out over time, and He has granted quite a bit of foliage to grow, plants even taller than myself in places.
I tried to hire some local grass baler folks to bale up the field but never really got responses from them. But, we’re trying to establish the field in something permanent, and I thought perhaps God was directing with that, so I didn’t really push it — we really need seed to re-plant itself, and perhaps after cutting it down, it wouldn’t re-grow in time, and then we could be having the re-plant it ourselves all over again.
We are very thankful to the Lord for the rains and what He granted in growing the field!
The War of the Weeds
If any of you have been involved in plowing and growing, you’ll know about the weed issue. We have a little nasty weed around here that is very difficult to get rid of called a cocklebur, which are very invasive. Here’s a picture of them:
And here’s one I found next to our main pond:
As time went on with the field, it became apparent that they were going to be a problem. In years past, I had hand-pulled all of the cocklebur plants, although one year I let several go. Still, I hadn’t anticipated what we encountered, and that was that just about everywhere where good grass wasn’t growing, cockleburs were.
Arg. And those little devils reproduce themselves many times over, with two seeds in each visual seed, one which can sit dormant for years!
Well, what do to, now with a whole field of good grass as well and given that the cockleburs seed out late August into September, which meant I was on a timer.
And so, I decided to just get out there, and have at it. Yes, pull them by hand…all 11 acres.
I started beginning of July and stayed at it anywhere from 2-4 hours a day starting after morning chores, 4-5 times a week — pretty much all of the time I would be doing other development around the homestead (like working on the house). It’s been grueling at times, but the Lord has helped keep me going.
Pulling filled rows was pretty difficult, being bent over a lot:
And while pulling them amidst the sorghum almum plants was slower, it was a bit easier:
Here’s a half-pulled row:
And fully hand-pulled:
It was slow going, but we just kept at it. And thanks to Sue for her getting up there and helping too!
Since I was spending so much time up there, I really was hoping God might 1) glorify Himself through the process in some way, and 2) that He might show me anything He might along the way spiritually. I pulled a lot of weeds, and had a lot of alone time up there, with God, contemplating; and graciously, I was reminded of some things…..
As Christ discussed in the parable of the sower, only the good ground produces a true bearing of fruit. This is spiritually in the heart. A.W. Pink talks much of keeping the heart in his “Heart Work” chapter from his book “Practical Christianity.” Besides the below, I hope you will take the time to read the entire chapter here:
4. To “keep” the heart means to look diligently after its cleansing. Perhaps some of our readers often find themselves sorrowfully crying, “Oh, the vileness of my heart!” Thank God if He has discovered this to you. But, dear friend, there is no sufficient reason why your “heart” should continue to be vile. You might lament that your garden was overgrown with weeds and filled with rubbish; but need it remain so? We speak not now of your sinful nature, the incurable and unchangeable “flesh” which still indwells you; but of your “heart,” which God bids you “keep.” You are responsible to purge your mind of vain imaginations, your soul of unlawful affections, your conscience of guilt.
But, alas, you say, “I have no control over such things: they come unbidden and I am powerless to prevent them.” So the Devil would have you believe! Revert again to the analogy of your garden. Do not the weeds spring up unbidden? Do not the slugs and other pests seek to prey upon the plants? What, then? Do you merely bewail your helplessness? No, you resist them, and take means to keep them under. Thieves enter houses uninvited, but whose fault is it if the doors and windows be left unfastened? Oh, heed not the seductive lullabies of Satan. God says, “Purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:8); that is, one mind for Him, and another for self! one for holiness, and another for the pleasures of sin.
But how am I to “purify” my heart? By vomiting up the foul things taken into it, shamefacedly owning them before God, repudiating them, turning from them with loathing; and it is written, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” By daily renewing our exercise of repentance, and such repentance as is spoken of in 2 Corinthians 7:11; “for behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” By the daily exercise of faith (Acts 15:9), appropriating afresh the cleansing blood of Christ, bathing every night in that “fountain” which has been opened “for sin and uncleanness” (Zech. 13:1). By treading the path of God’s commandments: “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit” (1 Pet. 1:22).
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“Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). How prone we are to be occupied with that which is evanescent, rather than with the things that abide; how ready to gauge things by our senses instead of by our rational powers. How easily we are deceived by that which is on the surface, forgetting that true beauty lies within. How slow we are to adopt God’s way of estimating. Instead of being attracted by comeliness of physical features we should value moral qualities and spiritual graces. Instead of spending so much care, time and money on the adorning of the body we ought to devote our best attention to the developing and directing of the faculties of our souls. Alas, the vast majority of our fellows live as though they had no souls, and the average professing Christian gives little serious thought to the same.
Yes, the Lord “looketh on the heart”: He sees its thoughts and intents, knows its desires and designs, beholds its motives and motions, and deals with us accordingly. The Lord discerns what qualities are in our hearts: what holiness and righteousness, what wisdom and prudence, what justice and integrity, what mercy and kindness. When such graces are lively and flourishing, then is fulfilled that verse, “My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies” (Song of Sol. 6:2). God esteems nothing so highly as holy faith, unfeigned love, and filial fear; in His sight a “meek and quiet spirit” is of “great price” (1 Pet. 3:4).
The sincerity of our profession largely depends upon the care and conscience we have in keeping our hearts. A very searching example of this is found in 2 Kings 10:31, “But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart.” Those words are more solemn because of what is said of him in the previous verse: “And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in Mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according unto all that was in Mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” Jehu was partial in his reformation, which showed his heart was not right with God; he abhorred the worship of Baal which Ahab had fostered, but he tolerated the golden calves which Jeroboam had set up. He failed to put away all the evil.
Ah, my reader, true conversion is not only turning away from gross sin, it is the heart forsaking all sin. There must be no reserve, for God will not allow any idol, nor must we. Jehu went so far, but he stopped short of the vital point; he put away evil, but he did not do that which was good. He heeded not the law of the Lord to walk in it “with all his heart.” It is greatly to be feared that those who are heedless are graceless, for where the principle of holiness is planted in the heart it makes its possessor circumspect and desirous of pleasing God in all things—not from servile fear, but from grateful love; not by constraint, but freely; not occasionally, but constantly.
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5. The diligent keeping of the heart is a great aid to the improving of our graces. Grace never thrives in a careless soul, for the roots and habits of grace are planted in the heart, and the deeper they are radicated (cause to take root) there the more thriving and flourishing grace is. In Ephesians 3:17, we read of being “rooted and grounded in love”: love in the heart is the spring of every gracious word of the mouth and of every holy act of the hand. But is not Christ the “root” of the Christian’s graces? Yes, the originating root, but grace is the derivative root, planted and nourished by Him, and according as this thrives under Divine influences, so the fruits of grace are more healthy and vigorous. But in a heart which is not kept diligently those fructifying influences are choked. Just as in an uncared-for garden the weeds crowd out the flowers, so vain thoughts that are not disallowed, and lusts which are not mortified, devour the strength of the heart. “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and with fatness; and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips: when I remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate on Thee in the night watches” (Ps. 55:5, 6).
As I continued pulling out the weeds from the field, I was reminded of a Psalm we were learning to sing as a group end of 2012 to early 2013, God keeping clean His house:
Root up Psalm 52:
Psalm 52
1 Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually.
2 The tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3 Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.
4 Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.
5 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
6 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:
7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.
9 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.
These processes of sanctifying of the heart and God’s house can often be quite disruptive, as I know from experience, and as was typified by how disruptive to the ground pulling some of the weeds were. It was amazing how much dirt often came up with the roots, even tiny weeds. And sadly, sometimes good grass came with the weed, but thankfully the Spirit is assuredly more careful and only what is supposed to come up does when He is working. We pray the Lord grant us His graces and mercies in these things, and thank Him for what He has, and may we heed these exhortations and warnings.
I also continued to be enlightened about my carnal man, in frustrations with weed-pulling difficulties (it never ceased to amaze me how even small cocklebur weeds required the same strength to pull them as weeds twice their size), the heat, and my obvious entitlement in my grumblings that this process should be easier. This gave me opportunity to repent and pray for God to help me exercise His graces of patience and submission to Him more. But, with me removing the “carnal flesh” of the field, it struck me that God might actually be mortifying the weeds of my heart while I was mortifying the weeds of the field. I pray it was so!
In my previous blog post on the war of the weeds, I discussed more about mortification, and recommended a Free Grace Broadcaster on the subject here.
As I mentioned, in the end, my prayer was that God would glorify Himself through the process, and that I might learn something from it as well. But, from a temporal standpoint, in God’s mercies, I was also very thankful for:
– No gnats, flying insects – Every breeze – Strength to get through each time – Seeing the cavalry (Sue) bringing something cool to drink – Hardly any fire ant problems – Only the relatively few times of being poked in the eye – The time alone with the Lord, and myself and continually being reminded of carnal reactions – No snakes – The easily-pulled weeds – The hard-to-pull weeds – Healing of the many blisters – No thorns on the weeds – Easy to identify stems (color and texture) – The bee swarm that flew over me, hopefully that’s gone on to make a new colony!
Thanks to the Lord for His graces and mercies!
During one of our community work days, while the men helped me with the house ceiling, the ladies and children graciously agreed to help pull weeds in the field.
Victory!
And more victory!
We really appreciate their willingness to help and the sacrifice of their hands with blisters! 🙂
One day I came back from pulling, and found a cocklebur seed in my beard. Nice. But that gave me an idea too…..cockle-beard darts! And here is a video of our first community tournament!
At least we found something fun to do with them! 🙂
Back in the field, sadly, after about seven weeks of hand-pulling, the cockburs began slowly to seed out, and I still had about three to four acres left. And so, I decided it was more important to try to cut down as many as possible before the seeds matured, hopefully late enough to where they wouldn’t grow back; and I got out the gas-powered, hand-push lawn mower, and started chopping them down in between rows where they were most prevalent, with the idea we’d continue to pull out the ones intermixed with the grass.
Some things I did notice: while using the industrial method to handle the weeds, although I cleared rows a lot faster, it was actually harder work physically (ie. it wasn’t really easier), the weeds obviously have the opportunity to grow back (the overall job is done more poorly), and I found I had to concentrate on what I was doing and wasn’t able to focus on godly things. Also, using the mower made it much harder to be discriminate with chopping up the good grass (ie. much more of the good grass got chopped up). These all vs. doing it the slower, patient, agrarian way. I thought those were interesting, and examples of the difference of the two ways of living.
After mowing, we went back to pulling. Sadly by this time, most of the weeds had seeds on them, but we continued with them, placing them in small piles along the row clearings, which we hope to go get over the winter, to bring back to burn. While the mowing actually did seem to stop maybe 2/3 of the cocklebur weeds from growing, that other 1/3 or so were still alive, and re-started to leaf out, so those had to be pulled up now as well.
Interestingly, later in the pulling, the stems seemed to start to harden or something, and I started ending up with splinters in my hands after pulling. Thankfully that was only near the end of the weeding time.
But, about 9 days into October — over 3 months and a week at it, I finally realized that as I was coming from the north, I had reached the place I had left off in the south part — in other words, weed pulling complete! Wow! Actually done! Oddly the next day, I almost had empty nest syndrome, since most days I was focused on getting chores done and getting up to the field, and now I didn’t have to. 🙂
But, excellent! Hopefully we’ll be able to go get those seeded weeds we did pull, and get them out of the field; and hopefully the field will benefit from this process.
And mostly again, my hope and prayer is that God glorified Himself with this, even if it was just to the heavenly realms! And I’m very grateful to the Lord for granting the spiritual lessons and physical strength to get this done!
Our neighbor, Mr. Bunker, planted his large field (about 5 acres) in black-eyed peas this past Spring. It was no small amount to purchase the seed and pay to have the ground plowed and planted. He had every right to keep it all to himself for his family and to have a cash crop. Instead, he graciously opened up the field to our community to come and tend it and reap its harvest together along with his family. We greatly appreciated his offer and spent many hours over several weeks in the Summer sun weeding and then picking the beans when they grew to maturity. It was a great opportunity for our community to learn what it means to come together for a common cause and share God’s bounty as a group. It was also the first major crop for the community to cultivate, so this was a new experience on multiple levels.
I learned many things through the experience. The women and children devoted several community work days towards weeding and tending the field, which turned out to be rich times of work, fellowship and getting to know each other better. Working in the field introduced me to the joys of blisters from the Blister Beetle; and I received my first wasp sting, not to mention the potent burning sting of the Stinging Nettle plant. It also forced me personally to come out of my own little homestead world to focus on a larger cause, and required additional discipline to go out into the field even when I didn’t “feel” like it or when I was really busy with other things.
The Lord did a little weeding of my own heart during this process as well. The Bible says we are to mortify (kill) the flesh (Rom 8:1-13), the carnal (non-spiritual) man of sin, which means we need to examine ourselves for sins of the flesh. At times when I was tired or really hot and sweaty wanting to quit, I had to reel myself back in and remember to be thankful for this opportunity and provision, and to work for Christ’s sake and as unto Him and nobody else. Just as with God’s grace, this provision was being offered undeserved as a gift; but I still had to beat down the flesh and submit myself to what was required to persevere to the end (the harvest). The field was so big it felt very overwhelming at times, when the weeds were growing so fast it was impossible to keep up with them. I could usually only get through one half to one row in a one to two hour time period. During the times when it was just me in that big field, my flesh would say, “It’s just too big. You’re not making a bit of difference. The weeds are going to take over this field, and there won’t be any beans left to harvest.” It was easy to forget that other members in the community were out there at different times doing the same thing, and we were all in it together. I also found myself at times to be even a little resentful that the entire community couldn’t put in more time and were jeopardizing the crop and some deserved more than others because of the different investments of time. The Lord had to remind me (strongly) that this was a REALLY good opportunity to step outside of myself and practice meekness and selflessness. I had to repent of that and remember it was not for myself but for the good of the community. I was saddened and surprised at how quickly my flesh had wanted to take over my spirit.
When it came time to harvest, there was plenty for everyone; and I learned the beans that weren’t picked could be turned back into the soil to nourish it. So no part of the whole process was wasted — another reminder that even when I don’t see the big picture, God does, and is in control and all knowing of every aspect of the situation. I believe the spiritual weeding of my heart truly paralleled the physical, and I praise the Lord for His patience with me to teach me these things. It was a valuable lesson in so many areas of my life, and I’m grateful to Mr. Bunker for his personal sacrifice in order for our community to grow spiritually and physically on individual and corporate levels.
I had not eaten black-eyed peas much growing up in California; it seems like more of a southern food. But I am now sold on growing them to harvest and preserve. Did you know it is a three-for-one crop: in that the first harvest produces long, tasty green beans; the second when they are a little dry, the moist bean could be shelled and preserved; and then at the end of the harvest when the bean pods have all dried up, you can go through again and pick the dried pods to shell and keep the black-eyed peas as a dried bean until you’re ready to cook them, or use them to re-plant. Wow!
Here are a couple of five-gallon buckets from the first green bean stage harvest:
I was able to pressure can over 20 quarts:
And here are the dried beans we harvested. It doesn’t look like much, but this represents a lot of food for the two of us:
We thank the Lord again for His direct spiritual and physical provisions and lessons from the experience of this first community crop. I hope I will have grown in spiritual maturity the next time, Lord willing, and pray for God’s blessing on Mr. Bunker and his family for their sacrifice and love for the community.
From the moment we got out here, there have been some things that have been ever present, and all around us; and for those of you who have dealt with the soil at all, you understand. Those things are weeds, and they are everywhere.
Here are some things I’ve discovered about them:
They grow without planting. They are just there.
They grow back when you cut them down, especially if you don’t pull out by the root.
They grow in whatever soil, around anything in their way, and through it if possible.
They can often be attractive. Notice here the pretty flowers:
Or the field of green:
They grow even when it doesn’t rain. Here is a picture of one of our garden beds after we were unable to water it. Notice what is green and living:
They grow even where they shouldn’t be able to grow, as this little one was in our root cellar:
It seems that there is no way to get rid of them entirely, and I believe this to be generally true based on the curse (Gen 3:17-19). And it seems like all there is to do is try to control them, and in my opinion, this means WAR. They must be cut, hacked, pulled, chopped, and sometimes even burned in order to get the better of them. Everything must be done to keep them down, and this is a constant struggle, one that I believe won’t end until the Lord returns.
If they are not removed, they reproduce themselves exponentially. One cocklebur plant will reproduce itself many times, as this picture shows:
Other have even more seeds:
We have also discovered that in the planting of “good” seeds (oats, for example), and if they are able to germinate and grow, these new plants will suppress the weeds, keeping them more at bay, and choking them out.
The point is that they need to be combated constantly in order to maintain a footing against them. Otherwise, they take over.
Now here is the important part in all of this. It is our prayer the Lord teach us His ways and His spiritual lessons from the temporal world around us. In watching and pondering weeds, by God’s graces it seemed to me that there is a similarity between them and something in the spiritual realm. And so given the above observations about weeds and the actions necessary against them, we pray, with the granting of the Father, the power in the blood of Christ, and with the indwelling help of the Holy Spirit, that God gives us the desire and strength to wage the battle daily against the weeds of sin in the carnal-man fields of our souls.
Rom 8:13 – “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”
Col 3:5-6 – “5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:”
With God’s help, we need to give constant attention to our souls, and not only work on mortifying our flesh, but filling ourselves with God’s Word, so that He, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Seed, is the predominant Life that is growing within us.
Heb. 11:8-10 - "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."
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