Fruit from Weeds: Insight 3

Start with the biggest weeds

         OK, where do you start once you’ve resolved to weed? With the biggest weeds. If nothing else it’s satisfying to pull them, and a good momentum builder. More pragmatically, that quickly cleans out big spaces and loosens the soil, making it easier to pull the smaller weeds close by them.

         The same dynamic is true in doing God’s work. We see that in the lives of two men powerfully used by God: Joshua and David.

         God tasked Joshua with getting the Hebrews into the Promised Land. Joshua 1:1-5. Joshua did that by taking on the biggest obstacle first: the flooding Jordan River. He had to move two million folks and their possessions across it to actually get into the land. Joshua 3 and 4.  Once he did that the rest of the conquest was relatively easy. Joshua 5-11. It was taking on that big initial obstacle that opened the way to do the rest.

         The other was David. God used him to unite the 12 tribes into a single kingdom.  He was anointed to that at an early age, but it didn’t happen right away. 1 Samuel 16. Time passed and what actually got him started was taking on Goliath. 1 Samuel 17.  Although his path to achieving God’s purpose was not as smooth as Joshua’s, there is no doubt that his initially pulling that extraordinarily large weed set up his ultimate success. 1 Samuel 17:55-18:30.