The Reaper And The Flowers

There is a Reaper, whose name is Death,
And, with his sickle keen,
He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,
And the flowers that grow between.

"Shall I have naught that is fair?" Saith he;
"Having naught but the bearded grain?
Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me,
I will give them all back again,"

He gazed at the flowers with tearful eye,
He kissed their drooping leaves;
It was for the Lord of Paradise
He bound them in his sheaves.

"My Lord has need of these flowerets gay,"
The Reaper said, and smiled:
"Dear tokens of the earth are they,
Where he was once a child."

"They shall all bloom in fields of light,
Transplanted by my care,
And saints, upon their garments white,
These sacred blossoms wear."

And the mother gave, in tears and pain,
The flowers she most did love:
She knew she should find them all again
In the fields of light above.

O, not in cruelty, not in wrath,
The Reaper came that day;
'Twas an angel visited the green earth,
And took the flowers away.

I've loved this poem since I first read it about six months ago. It seems so peaceful even with such a sad sound. I think maybe because it illustrates well just how marvelous God is. We may see tradgedy in a situation, when in reality, God is bringing glory to himself. We may never understand why he removes something from our lives, but He always knows why because He is God, and His ways are far above our own.

I read something interesting today in my devotional. First, check out these verses from Psalms:

91:7 "A thousand my fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you."

91:10-12 "No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone."

91:15-16 "He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long live I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation."

Sounds pretty encouraging right? Yeah, but in my devotional, John Piper points out that just because we put our faith in God does not mean we are safe from all harm. Don't get me (or him) wrong, I'm not saying we have no protection at all, but some people take these verses to mean we will be forever protected from all harm because "If God is for us, who can be against us?" If we look around, we can see bad things happening to strong Christians all over the world. Has God forgotten them? Did they do something to tick Him off, and therefore He no longer feels obliged to protect them? Of course not! God has pledged to be our Protector forever, but sometimes He does allow trial to come our way! If nothing bad ever happened, think how weak we would be. We would be totally helpless and would feel like we could do without God. Through trials, we truly learn how to rely on God for strength. Consider this, if you go a month with nothing bad happening to you, you start to think "Hey, I'm doing fine on my own - I don't really need God's protection." How do you think you've been doing so well? God has been watching over you. So I think that sometimes when we get a little headstrong, He lets something come along that puts us back in perspective.

I think that we are strengthened by trials. "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." You've heard that saying, right? Of course you have. It's not in the Bible, but it's true. The only real way to make it through trials is to lean on God. He will be faithful to bring you through. So that can translated to say that the more trials you make it through, the stronger your relationship with God will be. That's encouraging, isn't it? I think it is.

Don't be discouraged when you go through a hard time. Don't think that God is punishing you just because things aren't going well. In church yesterday, the pastor said this:

"You are either A) coming out of a storm, B) in the middle of a storm, or C) going into a storm."

Bad things happen to good people - but that doesn't mean God isn't in control or that he doesn't love you. If you are going through a tough spot, ask God what He wants you to learn through it. And be encouraged, it won't last forever. "God makes ALL things work together for good; to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

God Loves You!

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