Water levels in the lake behind our house have risen a foot and a half in just a few days. The ground is saturated but it’s not a crisis. Spring is coming. We open valves to drop the lake level in winter for house maintenance. Sea walls and docks are built or repaired. Fallen trees or trees whose roots may compromise the integrity for the dam are removed. It’s costly but necessary work to maintain the view we’ve come to enjoy. We count on spring rains to bring us back to full pool and my husband will soon be ordering baitfish to feed the bass population and tilapia to manage the algae. We’ll put out fresh mulch and I’ll pull out the planter pots to start my tomatoes before long.
This is what it means to take seriously God’s command to tend and watch over the earth. Each of us has been assigned a little corner to steward. Sure we plant and plan for our own enjoyment, but this too is a gift from God for the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. What do we own that is not His? We are simply managing His estate. (Genesis 2:15, Psalm 24:1)
“For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine.”
Psalms 50:10-11 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.50.10-11.NLT
Jesus told many parables about a King or wealthy Landowner who entrusted to His servants His wealth or His property. In His tales, the stewards were sometimes faithful, sometimes not. In one such scenario, the heir is killed when the subjects seek to inherit the estate by force, but in all, the King returns and judgement is meted out. These stories were not meant to entertain but to instruct.
“Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”
His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?”
He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not.
To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge.
But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.
But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.”
Matthew 13:9-12, 16 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.13.9-16.NLT
“Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.
But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.
They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. But not the wicked!
They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.
They will be condemned at the time of judgment.
Sinners will have no place among the godly.
For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.”
Psalms 1:1-6 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.1.6.NLT
In his Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan, through the classic tale of Christian, a pilgrim journeying from this world to the next, pointed his own children and generations of others heavenward in Christ. He warns us of distractions and pitfalls that waylay the traveler. He points to outright deception from an enemy. He paints the wide and narrow gates with words of warning and encouragement. Jesus does the same for us in the gospels, not only with His words but with His life. He was tempted in the wilderness but not only there. His legal opponents and His closest followers tempted Him to shortcut God’s plan. They sought to make Him King by force. (John 6:14-15)
““But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’
So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him.
“When the owner of the vineyard returns,” Jesus asked, “what do you think he will do to those farmers?”
The religious leaders replied, “He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.”
Then Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.’
I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit.
Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.”
When the leading priests and Pharisees heard this parable, they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers.
They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.”
Matthew 21:38-46 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.21.38-46.NLT
“This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future.
They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.
But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:5-8 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jer.17.7-8.NLT
“For the word of God is alive and powerful.
It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow.
It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.
Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.
This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.
There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”
Hebrews 4:12-16 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/heb.4.12-16.NLT
We pruned our overgrown fig tree just a few months ago. It gave us two banner crops of figs but it grew so lofty and its leaves and branches so crowded out the sunlight that much of the fruit never ripened before the first frost got it. We pray our efforts will be rewarded. Time with tell. God is our Master Gardener who lops off unfruitful branches and prunes the fruiting wood so that it becomes more productive. When we remain in Him, in His Word, we bear much fruit, showing ourselves to be His true disciples. When our lives are fruitful, He gets the glory He is due. (John 15:1-8)
“God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful— I can’t take it all in!
Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute— you’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.
Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
God, I’ll never comprehend them!
I couldn’t even begin to count them— any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!
And you murderers—out of here!— all the men and women who belittle you, God, infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
See how I hate those who hate you, God, see how I loathe all this godless arrogance; I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
Your enemies are my enemies!
Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong— then guide me on the road to eternal life.”
Psalms 139:1-24 MSG
https://bible.com/bible/97/psa.139.1-24.MSG
“God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart.
Examine me through and through; find out everything that may be hidden within me.
Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares.
See if there is any path of pain I’m walking on, and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting way— the path that brings me back to you.”
Psalms 139:23-24 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/psa.139.23-24.TPT
Running Back To You SEPH SCHLEUTER
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Psalm 139 like you may have
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