In my own life it is during walks that God most often speaks to me. “You are selfish! How? By spending so much time thinking about yourself! But how? You are to set your mind on the things above. But you set your mind on the things below. The things below are not just sin. The things below include questioning past behaviors, decisions, wondering if you were a good father, a good husband, how much of the work was Mike-inspired and how much was God-inspired. These things come from below. And what are they to Me? If you did good in the morning, give God the glory. If you did bad, confess, but don’t bring it into the now. When your eyes are set above, you will be filled, and next your eyes will be on others. It is selfish to spend that much time on self.” Next a message came. Jesus is not a general with troops walking in lock step, fearful of making the wrong move. Jesus is the Shepherd, and He leads. He leads, and the sheep do what is natural. I had to ask myself the question, what do I do naturally? I disciple, lecture, and write. I could see that the sheep also eat the grass that looks good to them while the Shepherd leads. I am free to pick the grass while I am doing what I do naturally. What freedom! I can pick the grass I like; not all sheep pick the same grass. I can pick to go to Ukraine, Latvia, or anywhere if it looks good to me. For at the end of the day and the end of the year, I will have been led through what I do naturally to the exact spot I should be. Every believer is led to the exact spot. Now to receive freedom, we must have faith. Unbelief will always emphasize man’s role in getting to the right place in life by listening, plotting, seeking, trying to understand, and deciphering the signs. Is it good? Is it my wants or His wants? What will happen if I make a wrong move? It is bondage, but we think about it. Is it not truly simple because God is so big? As I finished my walk there was one more lesson. It glorifies God that we walk with Him because we want to. In that last day we will all stand before Him, and God can proclaim, “You chose to be here.” God does everything permissible to help us make the right choice. He will close all doors but one; however, ultimately walking through that one is our choice. He does everything He can to push us to the right place. I could see that all of creation had been stayed by the hand of God. Every tree and rock, if given the freedom to do so, would burst out with His praise. Jesus said the rocks were ready to shout, and David said the trees clap their hands. But God will only allow nature to whisper of its Creator, for any more would infringe on choice. But every created thing is proclaiming Jesus.

Micah 6:15, You will sow but you will not reap. Hosea 8:7, For they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind. Luke 19:22, He said to him, “By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?” Galatians 6:8, For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

God is not as interested in your getting punished as He is in you.

Some sow and don’t reap, some sow and do reap, and others reap where they do not sow. Well, which is it? Actually all, in context, make perfect sense. However, I am looking at what it means to sow and reap. I believe there are three points. One, if you sow to the flesh you will reap of the flesh. I have witnessed those who sow to the flesh and in the end are given over to it to the point there is no distinction between the person and their flesh. Sin and flesh are one and the person merely manifests the sin. Second, there are those that forget that sowing is for a season. Every farmer would like it if they could sow once and reap for a lifetime. We can manipulate people by telling them that because of one mistake, they will be punished the rest of their lives. Third and finally, if you have sown to the flesh and repented, I believe that God can send a drought wherein there is no reaping and no fruit. The drought, the winter, the isolation, and the awareness of failure are not pleasant, but they keep the crop from growing. A temporary pain delivers a person from a season of pain. God is extra good to the heart that turns to Him. There is another thing that will keep a person from reaping what they have sown, and that is repentance. “Return, O faithless sons,” declares the LORD; “For I am a master to you, and I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding.” Legalism wishes to control through fear, the fear of punishment before an act and the certainty of punishment after the act. However, God is not as interested in your getting punished as He is in you. I Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

It may be too good to be true. But it is not.
Ghandi believed that finding God
was as slow and difficult as
emptying the ocean one cup
at a time. However, our God is
the Shepherd God who seeks us.