PLOUGHING AHeAD!
In January, One Church had a focused ‘Week of Prayer’ which enabled us to really stand together as ‘one’. Even though every day had a specific theme, we were encouraged to soak in God’s Word. I found myself in the Book of Luke throughout the week in particular two chapters 9 and 10! It’s strange but I just knew that God wanted to speak to me and so I soaked myself in every word that was written. As I was prayerfully studying what I was reading, chapter 9 V 57 jumped out at me; it was titled The cost of following Jesus. (not necessarily an encouraging word today I know!) When I read the last verse I just stopped, like people do in the movies! I paused for a moment as I took a sip of my brew and did a double take!
v62 Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’
I love that when studying the Bible you can read a scripture that you’ve looked at a dozen times before yet it’s almost like you are looking at it for the first time as something new instantly comes to mind or you simply hear God’s still quiet voice, and you just know that this is what He wants you to see! You are literally left knowing in no uncertain terms that God has spoken! That day I just knew without question that this was something for me and that there were things I needed to deal with.
It’s hard to explain what a ‘slap across the face’ feels like when it’s God doing the slapping! Even harder to explain how a ‘still quiet’ voice can be so loud that it makes you stop and then do a double take; but it does!
The analogy of ploughing is probably lost on most of us as we have never done it and with modern farming machines here in the UK we’ve only seen that type of ploughing in TV clips from distant countries and from far more humble types of farming. However in the days mentioned in the bible, the ploughing process was normal. Everyone would have seen ploughing taking place on a regular basis and even they themselves would have at least had a go at the plough at some time or other!
There are a few things that I think God wants us to be aware of when it comes to ‘ploughing’ in biblical times. The person ploughing would have to look constantly in the direction they wanted to plough! If they didn’t then the plough would turn and it would veer off course. The person would always be taught to use both hands whenever they were using the plough! The ground in those landscapes was a very different soil to what we are used to; it was far drier, harder and there would be many more stones! As a result ploughing the ground was really tough going and would require both hands to keep the plough steady!
62 Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’
Can I encourage us today, that in whatever way we are serving God no matter the context; we have to look forward! We need to keep both hands on the plough! There are two things that will happen if we don’t.
1.It will take us longer to move forward, if we have one eye on the past!
If we aren’t looking forwards we will start to meander making it more likely that we will go off course! This means we will have to correct our positioning, it will get messy and it will take us more time to get back on track. It’s important that we keep our eyes fixed forward at all times and not just when we want to! Personally, God was really challenging me and telling me to keep both eyes on where I am going and not where I have been! I suppose my default is to look at what I have done before when actually God is wanting me to step into the unknown. When it comes to One Church too, I believe God also wants us to look forward and remain focused. He really doesn’t want us to look back to what has been before as what He wants to do through us now is going to be different than what He has done in the past!
2. If we only use one hand it will be harder to move forward!
When using the plough, we have to be totally committed! We have to use both hands if we want to move forward. Using one hand speaks of arrogance; like we have ‘got this’ in our own strength. It’s like we know the landscape and don’t need to give it our full attention when the truth is that only God truly knows the ground we are covering. He also knows the pitfalls that are lurking underneath the surface that are trying to stop us in our tracks! One hand on the plough will cause us to wander rather than stay on the straight path that God is crafting out for us.
If we do use both hands then we will face less resistance as we move forward as the plough will remain more steady and sturdy through the soil. There will be some resistance in the ground which is a natural and necessary byproduct of the process but with both hands it will be quicker, cleaner and more accurate!
In whatever field you find yourself working in today remember to keep looking forward and be ‘all in’ with both hands! If we all do that then we will find that the ploughing process becomes easier and we will achieve our goal quicker; with a little less pain and ultimately with far more success!
by Simon Rushton 22nd March 2023
