Prayer and right living are how I cultivate fertile soil for good things to grow in

The most important message I picked up from today’s readings overall is prayer and right living are how I cultivate fertile soil for good things to grow in.

My primary takeaway from each of the passages was this:

• Leviticus 13 & 14:  Details about dealing with skin diseases, as well as purification; and also details about how to deal with houses of infected people.
• Luke 8: It is our faith that saves us. Our level of faith grows depending on the spiritual soil we cultivate within ourselves.
• Psalms 52: Those who place their trust in God flourish, while those who are lawless do not.
• Proverbs 21: “Fit out the cavalry for the day of battle, but the victory is Yahweh’s.”

In Luke 8, Jesus continues healing people, casting out demons, and performing miracles. The chapter begins with him telling the parable of the sower, which describes how faith grows in the hearts of people (or doesn’t). The chapter ends with him healing a woman who has been suffering from a permanent menstrual flow for twelve years. As we read in Leviticus a few chapters back, women who were menstruating were considered unclean, had to live separate from everyone else, and were forbidden to enter the synagogue. This woman had been ostracized for twelve years. She was desperate. Like the centurion we read about a few chapters ago, she had faith that did not require Jesus’ direct attention. She believed that if she could just touch his garment she would be healed, and she was. Jesus detects power going out of him in the thronging crowd and tells her that her faith has healed her.

Prior to that, he calms a storm that has his disciples cowering in terror, and asks them, “Where is your faith?”

It’s our faith that heals us and makes us whole.

When we find ourselves cowering in fear, or suffering needlessly, it is usually because we are focused on the problem instead of focusing on God. We may have a problem, but God is the Creator of the Universe and the master of time and space. There is no problem too big for God. In difficult, dark times, we should remember that and pray. We may not get the answer we are looking for, or we might. Regardless of what the response to our prayer is, we will find peace in prayer and surrendering our situation to something bigger than ourselves.

In the parable of the sower, Jesus gives us various scenarios in which our faith can dry up or be squeezed out of us, and one in which it flourishes (the fertile soil). Prayer is how we nourish that fertile soul. In my own case, reading the Bible also nourishes that fertile soil (as it does for countless many others as well). I used to read that passage and think the point was to figure out which scenario is the one we’re in and correct it. However, now I understand that all of us can experience every scenario at different times in our lives, depending on the situation we’re in. The point of the passage is to always strive for fertile soil, and if we find we’re in one of the other situations to do what we can to correct it and cultivate fertile soil. Prayer is the way to do that.

In Psalms 52 we see another metaphor for fertile soil versus withering conditions. The psalmist compares himself to a flourishing olive tree, while comparing those who live wicked, villainous lives as being snatched up from the root by God. The difference between the two is prayer and faithfulness to God and goodness or placing faith in oneself and one’s own efforts and plans (which in the case of those being described in this Psalm are apparently lawless).

Proverbs 21: 31 is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible: “Fit out the cavalry for the day of battle, but the victory is Yahweh’s.” Another translation says, “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.” I love this verse because it reminds me that outcomes are not my business. Preparation is my business. I can hope and pray for certain outcomes, but those outcomes are up to God. I have no way of knowing what my little part in the larger tapestry of life is. I can only do my best to play out my part with integrity, honesty, faithfulness, and trust that in doing so everything will turn out for the best and as it should. Prayer and right living are how I prepare the horses for the day of battle; they are how I cultivate fertile soil for good things to happen.

That’s what I got out of it. What did you get out of the readings today?

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This post is part of the series, “Read the Bible in a Year.”

To see other posts in this series, go to the Chronological Index of Read the Bible in a Year Posts.

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