Desolate Waste no Longer

God is awesome in all His ways and thoughts which are higher than ours.  As the Creator of heaven and earth and all living things, He has thought of everything and provides abundantly for our needs.  Jesus taught His disciples not to worry about their life, what they would eat or wear, for the LORD can be trusted for all things.  Jesus directed His followers to consider the birds, how they did not build storehouses for food but were supplied with food by God every day.  He told them to think about lovely lilies, how they did not work to be clothed with beautiful colours and king Solomon in his glory could not compare to them.  Jesus concluded in Matthew 6:30:  "Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"

In God's revelation of Himself to Job, I was struck how God cares for what people never observe or see.  When I worked in a building trade, for many people concealed work people would never see had a lower standard than finished, exposed work in a mechanical room.  We can do the same with the condition of our houses, for we prepare before the arrival of guests or a home inspection differently than usual by scurrying around to tidy up.  See what God said in Job 38:25-27:  "Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, or a path for the thunderbolt, ²⁶ to cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, a wilderness in which there is no man; ²⁷ to satisfy the desolate waste, and cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass?"  It is God who divides channels for waters to flow and makes a path for the thunderbolt.  Mankind has developed many innovations to improve irrigation for relatively small areas, yet God does this constantly in places no man sees.

God satisfies the unseen, desolates wastes in due season so they no longer remain dry and barren.  We buy seed or sod to beautify our little patch of yard and carefully water it because it is ours:  the heavens and the earth are the LORD's and the fulness thereof, and thus He cares for it (and us!) continually.  What is true concerning the watering of land is insightful concerning the hearts and minds of people, places that are unknown and unseen by others.  Paul used an spiritual illustration from agriculture in 1 Corinthians 3:6, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase."  God is the giver of life who plants, waters and causes to grow, and He empowers His people to contribute in the process.  Know that God is working behind the scenes in the lives of people to soften, irrigate and prepare hearts to receive the Gospel, to respond to rebuke and be edified by encouragement so He will be glorified--long before we have done anything.