The plowers plowed upon my back;
They made their furrows long.
— Psalm 129:3
To follow the Lord is not cheap by any means. There is no shortcut. We should never think, “The Lord is moving so fast! Now I can grow so quickly!” Biblically it has never been so. We cannot circumvent the normal and healthy process of true Christian growth. If we desire to grow in life, and if we desire to serve the Lord effectively, then we must pass through this process.
We must ask ourselves if we are willing to be plowed, or would we prefer to hide from the Lord’s plowing work? When the Lord plows long furrows in our back we may feel extremely low and in a situation of abasement. We may think it is too painful to endure. But we also must remember, as we saw in Psalm 123, that the Lord’s hand of discipline is a hand of supply, support, leading, and comfort. The Lord will be with us as we go through His environmental dealings.
Our experience of the Lord’s plowing work may be difficult and sometimes almost unbearable. However, it affords us a deep, sweet and romantic enjoyment of Him. He will supply us and make Himself known to us. Eventually we will look back and say, “Thank You, Lord. That was precious. It was exactly what I needed to grow.
Adapted from The Journey of Life, page 84.
Tomorrow: “Submitting to the Lord’s Arrangement”