Most of us don’t really like getting dirty or digging around in the dark but if you look at what it takes for a seed to germinate and grow that’s exactly what it has to do. It’s actually how it has been created by God to function. If a seed remains on the parent tree or sits on a shelf and is never placed in the dirt and squashed down in the dark under a mound of soil then won’t be in the right conditions to grow. It will always remain a seed, with lots of potential and ability, but never doing anything.
The making and transformation of a seed into it’s full reality is in it’s planting! The same can be said of us, for within each one of us are “seeds” of who we are created to be. There are “seeds” of potential, talents and gifts just waiting to spring forth. But those seeds have to be realised and planted somewhere, and it’s in the planting that we can get stuck.
We realise we have abilities, an idea or dream and we start to get excited – which is great. But then God takes hold of us and pops us in the “ground”. The ground being those places where we feel forgotten about, pressured, or are facing a challenge. The “ground” is the dark places where we feel out of our comfort zone and even under attack. But it is here in the dirt and dark, that God works His transformation on us. It’s in the dirt and dark that who we truly are is shaped and refined. It’s when no one is looking and we perhaps feel like we are in the midst of a struggle that God’s power working within us starts to reveal His plan and purposes for us.
David, Joseph Moses and Paul, and many others lives reveal how God works in the dirt and the dark. David whilst out tending his Father’s sheep had the makings of a warrior and King formed in Him even though everyone else chose to overlook him and leave him out alone in the fields. Joseph grew the character, wisdom and relationship with God to cause him to become a great leader while sitting in a jail cell. Moses developed whilst living in the wilderness to be someone one who knew God so well that God himself called Moses his friend. Or Paul who God kept hidden for 14 years to shape him into a great man of God who would one day spread the news about Jesus far and wide, write much of the New Testament, overcome adversities and be used to perform healings and miracles as he preached.
Today if you feel like you are in the dirt or in a dark place, don’t despair because God works miracles and transformation in the dirt and the dark. As we trust Him He will move within our circumstances and lives to bring forth life and potential, because He knows the process it’s going to take for those “seeds” to come to fruition. Trust Him to bring it to pass, learn and grow while you are in the dark places knowing that whatever “valley” you may face, if you keep focused on God, His promises and His goodness then there is a banqueting table waiting just for you.
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a battle before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. (Psalm 23:4-5 NIV)
“Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over.” (John 12:24 Message)
Prayer:Lord thankyou for the “seeds” you have placed in my life and the potential I have inside of me. Please help me to not be afraid of the dark places or when I feel like I’ve been put in the “dirt or dark places” somewhere because it’s in these places that you are able to shape, form and birth amazing things within me. I trust your promises that you will never leave me and that you are with me even while I’m in the “valleys” and will bring me through to the other side. In Jesus name Amen.
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