Where There is No Oxen...? - Learning From My Younger Self

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12/3/2019 (Notes taken during church)

Prov. 14:4 – Where no oxen are, the grain crib is empty (it’s clean) but much increase comes by the strength of the ox (there’s a harvest)

When the work is getting done, it’s not always pretty, but even in the mess there will be a harvest

RESPONSE

Dear reader, look around your house. If it’s anything like mine, surfaces are mainly covered with something. Our classroom desks are a mess of laptops, workbooks, papers, fidget toys. Floors have discarded pencils, legos, Jenga pieces. This is life with three children. Does yours look similar?

One of my personal, never-ending goals is to improve my posture. I’m taller and most of my world tends to be a little shorter than me. Stooping down to pick up things or walking with my head down so as not to trip over the land mines my children have left (legos, ouch!), can be incredibly frustrating. Standing up straight and looking ahead, not at my feet and floor (don’t forget to tuck in the belly) would cause me to land flat on my face. Hence, my never-ending goal to improve my posture.

So oxen, I guess in this case, would be my children? Hmmm…

In general, thinking about big hairy things in life… bills, debt, working around everyone’s schedules, prayer needs, family demands. How much richer is our life because of the struggles? Reader, how much richer is our life because of our perseverance in the struggles?

Romans 5: 3-5 – We can have joy in our troubles, because we know that troubles produce patience (endurance), patience produces character, character produces hope. Hope never disappoints because God poured out His love to fill our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.

My kids and I took apart this passage a few weeks ago. It looked something like this: We can have joy in our arguments with friends. Huh. We can have joy in our math problems. Ooh. We can have joy doing chores we hate. Yikes. Because we know that troubles produce patience and endurance. Patience in arguments with friends, patience in math problems, patience in chores we hate produces character. (Aw man! Our chores produce character.) Character produces hope. (Yes, even hope that we’ll be done with our chores quickly, hope that we’ll have better, healthier conversations with our friends, hope that math will get easier.) That hope never disappoints because God poured out His love to fill our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us. Our hope allows His love to infill us with the Holy Spirit. How incredibly beautiful.

Now, Reader, your turn. Fill in the blank with your troubles. Name them. “I can have joy in ________, because I know that ______________ produces patience, patience in ________ produces character, character produces hope. Hope will never disappoint me because God poured out His love to fill my heart through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to me.” Isn’t there something beautiful in reading Scripture in first person?

If Scripture is true forwards, it’s often true backwards. If we want His love to fill us, we must have hope. If we want hope, we must develop character. If we want character, we must develop patient endurance. If we want endurance, we must go through troubles. In other words, we need those big, hairy things in our lives in order to have hope through His Holy Spirit.

PRAYER

Father, I only joke in calling my kids oxen. However, the family dynamic can certainly be a trying one, one that YOU are using to produce character in all of us. There is harvest, there is blessing, there is increase in the challenges. Thank YOU, Lord, that YOU promise us that in this mess we are growing and enduring and increasing in hope. We can’t run from it so we thank YOU, for YOU are taking us through it.

One more thing, readers! Don’t have a Bible? Want a simple way to look up Scripture? YOUVersion app is great for your phone, your tablet, your laptop. One of my favorite features is the audio feature. I can have Scripture or reading plans read to me while I do dishes, work in the garden, or fold laundry. I’m hands-free and still learning. Here’s the link: https://www.youversion.com/

To respond to this or any of my blogs, email me at [email protected].

By : elizabethdye