After a week of hot dry weather, our cornfield is showing signs of needing much rain. In the heat of the day, the leaves are curling making it look frail and parched. This is a natural response to the stress the heat is putting on the corn stalks. For this to happen a few days, brings concern but no damage. However, if the heat and drought continue, the corn crop yield will begin to suffer.

As I walked to the mailbox today, I snapped a picture of the curled corn. We are much like the curled corn. When the heat of life is turned up, we tend to curl up and draw within ourselves. This too is a natural stress response, a way to protect ourselves from pain and suffering.

A few days in the heat and stress is no problem for us either, but if it continues, we too will not produce any crop. So how do we prevent this from happening when God allows the heat to be turned up in our lives?

Job is a good example of suffering. God allowed him to feel the “fire” of pain and agony when everything was taken from him. Despite the loss of family, possessions, servants, livestock, and eventually his health, Job remained faithful to God. Job even said,

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1:21-21 NIV).

 God understands if you want to whine a little bit along the way. After all Job and his friends battled it out for 40 chapters! They preached at him, and Job whined about his innocence, which proves that bad things happen to good people. In the end, Job admitted that God was in control, and even though He had turned up the heat, Job acknowledged God’s sovereignty.

“I know that you can do all things no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” (Job 42:2-3).

When the heat is turned up in our lives, our goal is to react like Job. Don’t stay curled up protecting ourselves. Instead, draw close to God and acknowledge that He is a sovereign God. Allow Him to mold you and form you into a reflection of Christ Almighty. Rejoice in your trials, because once you have endured your difficult, heat-exhaustive days, you will once again uncurl and produce a crop for the Kingdom of God.

Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” (Mark 4:20 NIV).


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