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The Grain
by Jerry Ousley When we were kids, my brother, cousin, and I would often play together during the hot summertime. The little burg in which we lived was a farming community and at the edge of the little town, and in between our house and our cousin's house, was a grain elevator. On those hot, humid days during the early fall, when the farmers were bringing in their crops we'd go there to buy a pop. They had one of the old-fashioned machines that had the small bottles for a nickel. Because there was deposit on the bottles we'd drink them there so we didn't have to pay the deposit. As we sat on the crudely fashioned bench beside the pop machine, and out of the way of the big grain trucks driving into the building to be weighed and unloaded, it was fascinating to watch what we could see of the process as the corn and other grains were ground into feed and then poured into bags. Even though we enjoyed it we also got dirty there; not dirty with dirt but with the dust coming from the mill as they ground up the grain. Because it was hot and we were sweaty, the grain dust would stick to our clothes and get into our hair. It pretty much covered us and when we went back home we always got a scolding because we had gotten so dirty. Boys will be boys you know! In Zechariah 9:17 we read about how we are jewels in the crown of God. The passage of scripture goes on to say that grain shall make the young men thrive. The Bible is talking about food here. It mentions it in connection with young men. Now that isn't to say that we don't all need food of course we do whether we're a young man, a young lady, a mature lady, or an old man like me. The interesting thing about this comparison of grain and young men is that it speaks of wisdom and common sense. We all need food and the Bible, the Word of God, is food to our spiritual souls. That's a given. We should all hunger and thirst to know more about God and we find that most readily in the Word of God. But why is there the mention of the young men? It is fact that men most generally react to things logically. In other words, men react in a problem-solving manner. We try to find the solution to the problem. We want to fix things. There's nothing wrong with reacting that way unless we just go too far with it. The Word of God definitely fixes our problems when we read it, then discover the answers and apply them to our lives. This portion of the verse is telling us that the grain is the food for our souls and we are to react to it logically. We need to know what the Word of God says. We not only need to know what it says, but we also need to apply it to our lives. Once we discover that we are compared to the jewels in the crown of God then we must react logically and responsibly to that truth by obeying the Word of God. We want to do the right thing. Sometimes that's harder to do than it is to say, but it should be our goal. Regardless how many times we fail in life, we must continue picking ourselves up from the ground, dusting off the seat of our pants and keep on going. We've come too far to turn back. I mentioned the snow and ice storm of a while back. The morning that it came I was on my way to work. I have about thirty-five miles to travel one way. When I started out it wasn't too bad. But the further I got the worse it got. When I was about half way there I had thoughts of turning back. But I was half way there. It was just as far and treacherous to go back as it was to go forward. I chose to go forward. That's what we've got to do in the Kingdom of God. We're going to fail. But when we do let's go to the Word of God and find the logical solution to our problem. When we do then we are moving forward in our relationship with God. Let's eat of the grain so the young man can thrive! Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |