An old man was eating in a truck stop when three rough-looking bikers walked in. The three bikers looked him over and planned to make him a little miserable. As they passed the old man, the first biker pushed his cigarette into the old man’s pie, then laughed and took a seat at the counter. The second biker picked up the old man’s milk and spit into it. The third biker turned over the old man’s plate before joining the others at the counter. Without saying a word to the laughing bikers, the old man put his money down, got up, and left the diner. One of the bikers said to the waitress, “Not much of a man, was he?” The waitress replied,” Not much of a truck driver either. He just backed his big rig over three motorcycles!”
Things don’t always work out like you think. God also has a plan for you and it can be found in:
Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB) ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.’
This sounds good, doesn’t it?! God Himself has a plan for you and one that is good and not harmful to you…. He even says that He will give to a family a FUTURE. A good, expected end. However, we all know that this is not an automatic thing…. Just how does this happen? What exactly do you do to acquire this good end?
First, we need to know something of the way God works. He does not have a modus operando like we do. The way He works and runs things is quite different than what we do… In fact the Bible tells us what God says about His ways.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NASB) “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Frankly, I am glad that His ways are different than mine . If I were in charge of the world, I am sure I would ruin things. God says His ways are not just different than ours; they are higher. His thoughts and plans are not just different than ours; they are higher. God’s ways of doing things don’t make sense to us initially, but we can see the outcome and agree that He knows what He is doing and that He brings a blessing to that life that serves Him.
Jesus told his disciples a story that was so important that he said unless you understand this story, you will not understand anything else he said. He said if someone would understand this parable, he or she would begin to understand God’s thoughts and ways.
Just imagine if you would look and understand one parable, you could begin to see the prosperity and blessing that God spoke of. The parable is recorded in all the synoptic gospels and it is often referred to as the “Sower and the Seed.”
Luke 8:5-8 (NIV) “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
When he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Next week I want share with you what Jesus explained this seed to be and how it can produce a great harvest in your life and that of your family.