Carrot, Egg, or Coffee?

“The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away.” Matthew 13:20-21

We will know that God’s word has fallen on the rocky ground of our heart, if at this time of tribulation and hardship, we stop trusting Him, we begin to feel hopeless, anxious, and try to hold to on our own strength to cope. If that is the case, we may continue to spiral downward into depression. We need to cling to our Father more, with every breath we take. If we feel lost, all the more we need to read His word all the time, so that we can stand surely on His promises. 

“Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do these commandments, that it may go well with you...as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:3-9) 

God’s word is medicine for our mind and heart. Proverbs 4:20-22 reads, “My son, give attention to my words; incline thine heart unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For my words are life to those who find them and health to their whole body.” The Hebrew word for health also means medicine. 

During this time of the pandemic we can either be a carrot, an egg, or coffee. When boiled in hot water, a carrot becomes soft, an egg becomes hard, but coffee changes the hot water into a fragrant, delicious drink. Let us strive to change the environment around us with the fragrance of our hope and encouraging presence. We can only do that if we stand on the solid ground of God’s love and His enduring Word.