The Planting of the Lord

And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘See, you have taken all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.” – 2 Kings 4:13 (ESV)

This is from the story of the Shunammite woman. I refer to Matthew Henry who tells us that Shunem was a town in the tribal area of Issachar. It lay on the road between Samaria and Mount Carmel and was a place the prophet Elisha passed by on many occasions in his travels for the Lord. The woman was the wife of a prosperous man. They could afford to provide food and accommodations to the prophet. She had asked her husband to build a small, simple room that the prophet might have a place to rest and pray as he passed through. Perhaps she thought she and her husband would be blessed for their efforts. Or perhaps she simply had a heart for God and sought to please Him by showing kindness to His man.

Elisha seeks to repay the kindness done to him, and he asks her what it is that he might do for her. He had connections in the royal city of Samaria. His face was as familiar to the king as it was sometimes dreaded. Samaria was probably nearly as corrupt as Chicago, but, if one knew the right people and greased the right palms, business could be done. The leaders of Israel feared Elisha at least as much as they respected him. He did not need a bribe to sway them. All he would have to do is speak a word in the ear of the king.

The woman’s answer fascinates me. “I dwell among my own people.” She requires no special favors – at least, not yet. She and her husband had their rightful inheritance in the Land of Promise, their home among their family and their clan. Their fathers and mothers were buried in that ground. Their very bones were knit from it. They had a place where they belonged. The woman expresses no dissatisfaction, no discontent. She has enough because she sees it as being what God has given her.

Can I be satisfied with what God has given me? There is so much around me that seeks to stir up the muck of discontent. I have very nearly quit watching television except for my own DVD’s. I listen to the radio much less than I used to. But dissatisfaction still finds me. I can deal with the desire to have a new car or a new MP3 player or a new firearm. A desire for things is, for most of us, rather trivial. It does not do us a great deal of harm unless it becomes a substitute for something else.

The danger comes when I am not satisfied with where God has placed me or how He has made me. If I am unhappy with my heritage, my place in His great plan, I am at risk. This is related to the subject of my previous post. One does not have to be a Simon Magus (Acts 8:18) or a Diotrephes (3 John 9) to be led astray. Perhaps the greatest single key to developing as a Christian is to learn to rest in one’s current circumstances.

Look at Psalm 1:3: He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. A tree does not plant itself. We are planted at God’s direction. This sometimes looks like a desert, but there must be an underground river nearby.

Paul reflects a similar view in Philippians 4:11, saying, Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. Again, in Colossians 3:23, he says, Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men…. Wherever I find myself, all God asks is that I take care of what is in front of me. If I do what I can, where I am, it will be enough.

We may not always be able to remain in our place (2 Kings 8:1-6). We may be forced to sojourn and toil in a foreign and unfamiliar land. But, in that, too, we may recognize the sovereign and merciful hand of God – if we will. In the end, there will be restoration, as there was for that Shunammite woman. But we will never find rest without putting our trust fully in God as the One who is ultimately in control. He offers us pure and eternal peace with Him through Christ Jesus. He asks of us nothing except a willingness to enter into His rest and to be content.

A Reason for Liberation

And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, He sent forth two of His disciples and said unto them, “Go your way into the village opposite you, and as soon as ye have entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat. Loose him and bring him. And if any man say unto you, ‘Why do ye this?’ say ye that the Lord hath need of him, and straightway he will send him hither.”

And they went their way and found the colt tied outside by the door at a place where two ways met, and they loosed him. And certain of those who stood there said unto them, “What do ye, loosing the colt?” And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded, and they let them go. – Mark 11:1-6

This is how the triumphal entry into Jerusalem began. Jesus knew who He was. He knew His position, His authority, and His destiny. He was born a king. By entering Jerusalem seated on a donkey that had never been ridden, He was proclaiming the initiation of His rightful rule over mankind. He did not come on a great warhorse as conqueror. When the kingdom passed from David to Solomon, David instructed that his chosen successor should be seated upon his own mule, signifying the peaceful and voluntary transfer of authority from father to son.

The Bible does not say, but it is interesting to speculate that the colt was not only one that had never been ridden – but that it was a first-born colt. If that were the case, it would belong to the Lord. The first-born male of a clean animal had to be sacrificed according to the Law, but the first-born male of an unclean animal, such as the ass, could be redeemed – have a price paid for it in exchange for its life. An animal the owner did not wish to redeem had to have its neck broken. It was understood that these animals did not belong to the person but to the Lord Himself. This would go well with the instruction Jesus gave to say “the Lord hath need of him”.

I have a lot in common with that lowly donkey. Like it I have been redeemed, but most of the time I seem to just be going about the mundane affairs of everyday life, hauling loads, packing someone around, or standing tied to a post. My life appears quite ordinary and untouched by the Divine. Yet, again like that colt, I still belong to the Lord. Though I was redeemed, it only means that the price was paid that I might live, but this life isn’t mine. You are not your own; you have been bought with a price.

I am allowed to pursue my own ends most of the time. My life is not given fulltime in service to God as we normally think of it. I can do my secular job to please my earthly employer, to gain money and status for myself. Or I can take the approach Paul recommends: And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord and not unto men (Colossian 3:23). I can see that because my life is redeemed and truly belongs to Christ, my thoughts, words, and actions take on a new significance. The trivial becomes profound, the profane is made holy, and the common is injected with glory.

The other thing I have in common with the donkey is that when the Lord had need of me for some special purpose, I am set free. Nothing will be able to hold me back. When the Lord calls, I have no excuse. I am free to bear His easy, light and joyous burden.