For All That Stuff in the Bible That Goes Right Over My Head

Picture how beautiful this is: "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." This is one of the reasons why I appreciate Isiah so much. He packs the largest concepts in the smallest statement and with such beauty.

Am I a sower? Is His Word producing seeds that I will plant? Or am I the consumer, the one who eats the product of the seed - the bread eater? Or am I a little of both? Notice, the metaphor only talks about the seed or the end-product, not the plant or the crop. Why is that?

Or, maybe I am the earth? Maybe I bud and flourish at having the Word sink into me. Maybe I have seeds for my descendants, and bread for my current relationships. What do you think?

Then there's the rain versus the snow. Isn't it true that some of the things you read in the Bible are like that? Some things sink in immediately and super-charge me just like water immediately sinks into dry potting soil; while other passages I read take a while. They rest on the surface of my being like snow rests on the ground --slowly melting--slowly feeding.

And don't the most beautiful plants emerge from the snow? Especially after the ground has been covered for a while. To see that first bud pop through the surface is like nothing else. Because of the contrast of color breaking through frozen barren white; it marks that life is underneath and that what's to come will be lush and rich. It's hope. Even though I don't understand a lot of what I read in the Bible, because of this, I think of all those words that roll past my eyes, and rest on the outside of my understanding in the same way I think of snow covering the ground, that will eventually give way to am amazing lush landscape.

I have great hope for the things that don't sink in right away, like snow; and great gratitude for that which I can soak up in the moment - like rain.