While reading in Isaiah chapter 1, I began to see a land, a field, a farm - a place for growing things. It's a land where chosen children learn to experience the harvest of fruit that comes with a life fully surrendered and shared with their Creator.
Join me in the picture: It looks like the beginning of fall, when the harvest is ready and it's time to go back to school. It feels like a page pulled from a child's storybook.
Family and friends are gathering around a table - sharing the blessings of life. Together, they're closing the day with joy on their faces, golden and warm like a fire's reflection. They're enjoying the bountiful fruit of their labor, and they're appreciative - fully aware - that it's all a gift from above.
And the One above is not far off. He is in their midst, celebrating and passing plates, smiling too. God lives there, present at the table, with them in the working fields, there in the cozy home in the deep of night - with the ones who have believed and forsaken forging their own paths. They've traded their own way for the truth and fullness that He gives.
It's worship when they work - when the beds are made, when time is taken to spend with a child, and when they put their hand to the plow. All to magnify the One in their midst!
They resist the temptation to turn away and leave this land. They've come too far, tasted too much good. Their lives sing true; they're becoming their original design - the one that they've deep-down desired to be. Knowing each one so well, the One over all helps them see how it's possible to do the impossible of becoming something new. He can be found anywhere on this land and His Presence spreads over it all like tiny dew drops that when gathered together could fill an entire sea.
The table where this wild variety of beauty gathers is long and the food and conversation is rich and plentiful. Every one - old, young, weak and strong - all have something to bring, and they do! Grandma lights the candles and baby laughs with cousins. Uncle entertains with a joke while sisters place flowers in strands of hair. Stories are shared like big bowls of mashed potatoes that warm and fill the tummy. Thanks is given to the God above, and beside, and within.
Holy is this place. Far from perfect, yet, eyes are opened here to the sacred gift of sharing a day, a harvest, a meal, a prayer. Hearts are alive here, awakened with gratitude and filled with joy because of the invitation they've received and accepted - to come alive and join in the work this land.
The Owner of it all is calling - inviting each and every one to abandon the old, lifeless ways of living. He's welcoming the lonely to come in close and find His family. He's offering the hungry to come and feast! He's asking the one who needs purpose to help with His work. Jesus is at the table, He's in the field and in the home, welcoming all to join Him in this place of true living, peace, and rest.
If you have a willing heart to let me help you, and if you will obey me, you will feast on the blessings of an abundant harvest (Isaiah 1:19, TPT).
Meditate:
What is the Lord offering to you? Do you need to press in closer? Do you need to join His family at the table? Is He asking you to place your hands on a plow or to help gather in?
Spend some time asking these questions and listen to what the Lord will say.
Prayer:
Father in heaven and in my heart, thank You for making a place and a family for me. I take my seat and join You at the table. I will share in communion with You and Your body - the brothers and sisters, mothers, fathers, and friends that you've placed around me in the community of believers.
Thank You for true life! Help me to really live. Help me to do the work that You've designed for me to do.
I love you, Lord.
In Jesus name, Amen.