When Life Seems Unfruitful

Everything is far & long gone by… I would like to step out of my heart & go walking beneath the enormous sky. Rainer M. Rilke

Have you ever had one of those days where you felt like a square peg trying to fit in a round hole? She asked, hoping for an answer to quench her thirst or curb her restlessness. It has been a long, long, season of waiting, and standing, and believing. It is a frustrating time as well; it is a time that nothing in my life seems fruitful. I am just here…waiting. I suppose I could fill my time with busyness so that I won’t feel the crush of the wait, but that would not prove fruitful either. Nothing seems fruitful at all; as illustrated in Piper’s Farm which is rich in green leaves and flowers, yet lacking fruit. I am weary of walking through the Farm anticipating fruit; I am disappointed each day. It seems that the Farm’s chronos is suspended in time for a harvest as well. 

The trees did not bloom this year;

There will be no apples this summer…

The apricot tree has forgotten to bloom…

The plumb tree which traditionally boasts of more plums than one knows what to do with, did not survive a hard freeze; most of it had to be pruned…

I could not find a bloom on my Texas Bluebonnets, which I am growing to remind me of God’s promise to me…

So, I ceased looking for fruit, and my expectation of harvest diminished.

They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit (Jer. 17:8 NASB).

When you feel like you are being crushed like a grape; God is getting ready to do something amazing with you. 

We all have experienced times when we feel unfruitful. It is in those times we need to press in diligently to hear God’s voice; set your face as flint... He is desiring to be more intimate with us and to deepen our understanding of who He is.

He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel  (Ps 103:7 NASB)

The Israelites witnessed God’s miracles—His signs and wonders; but they would not climb the mountain; they wanted Moses to be their advocate to God. Moses knew God face-to-face, because he desired to be in the presence of the Lord; he would settle for nothing less than basking in God’s glory.

Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend (Ex. 33:11 NASB).

Moses knew God’s ways, He understood His character. He trusted God because he knew God was trustworthy. When we don’t seek God, we will continue to walk around in a wilderness; questioning God and losing faith in His promises. The purpose of these dry, unfruitful seasons is to cause us to seek God more ardently than ever; we, like Moses, should not settle for less than God’s presence.  

Things are growing slowly, we had a late start to the warm weather. In Colorado, the growing season is all too short, and as August looms on the horizon, ushering in the fall, it is growing shorter by the day. I see green lush leaves and flowers that open and close, as if to tease me.  I worked hard to get this Farm planted, and it may come to naught. This causes me to be anxious for the fruit of my labor.

After a couple of days of sulking in my fruitlessness, I found a raspberry bush in a lower garden that I have neglected; it holds a few red berries. I planted this bush years ago, and honestly forgot about it; my energy focused on the berry bushes growing in my Farm.  

Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup. Wendell Berry

It caused me to reflect…do we have gifts or talents that we neglect, focusing our energy elsewhere, only to find the thing we neglected bearing fruit? There are things the Lord wants to see you bear fruit in, but you have forgotten to care for it. This is true for me. Use these dry times to cultivate your gifts and talents; be mindful of what you are neglecting. We must not leave our gifts and talents buried in the sand; driven by fear and afraid of risk. The reason I neglected this raspberry bush is that it is not organic. I bought it years ago before I began growing organic food. This bush I thought not worthy of my attention because it is not packaged the way I want it to be. That is how we miss God…when we don’t like the package or don’t recognize His workings when they manifest. The Pharisees made the same grave error. They knew the Hebrew Scriptures better than anyone. The very One those pages spoke of, they did not recognize when He walked the planet and knocked on their doors. Jesus did not appear how they envisioned, so He was despised and rejected (see Is. 53:3). 

Though it seems dark now, God always reminds us of His faithfulness. As I walked through the Farm a few days later, I began to see signs of life…

A few cucumbers…

And a bloom on my bluebonnets…

I have wasted too much time being disappointed; instead I should practice cultivating a grateful heart. My Farm brings me joy and happiness and it contains much to be thankful for. Thanking God in the midst of the crush is vital to our relationship with Him. I am thankful for the beauty of the pumpkin’s orange flowers—a promise of fruit. I am thankful for all the flowers that hold the promise of fruit, and the large green branches that are being conditioned to bear the coming harvest. The harvest may seem late by my perception, but God’s ways are not our ways (Is. 55:8-9). Part of cultivating a grateful heart is finding joy in the everyday mundane chronos. My small humble container Farm brings me joy and I thank Him for the coming harvest. God's beauty and His goodness is all around me. Be thankful...

Be joyful because it is humanly possible. Wendell Berry

When death seems imminent…God always brings life. He cares enough about me to cause my bluebonnets to bloom, to nudge me toward the mark and to remember that He is faithful that promised (see Heb. 10:23). The promise those flowers represent is still alive, though it seems unfruitful right now, God gently reminds me not to let go, and that He is getting ready to do something really amazing.

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. For the director of music. On my stringed instruments. Habakkuk 3:17-19  

Don't forget to check out my book, A Life That Sings: Finding Your Song In The Midst of Brokenness

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Westbow Press

Google Play

Psalm 1: Prepare to Pray

“Thanksgiving for the past, rededication for the present, and expectation for the future were the all-embracing components of Israel’s worship as voiced in the Psalms—a worship rooted in the healing, compelling, and hopeful revelation of God in their history.”[1]

“The Psalms train us to pray with others who have prayed and are praying: put our knees on the level with other bent knees; lift our hands in concert with other lifted hands; join our voices in lament and praise with other voices who weep and laugh. The primary use of prayer is not for expressing ourselves, but in becoming ourselves, and we cannot do that alone.”[2]

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Psalm 1 NASB

Sometimes prayer is a struggle; life leaves us gasping for air, not able to call for help above a whisper, hurt so deep we can’t find the words…open the Psalms. It is a beloved prayer book and a magnificent hymn book. It is the honest reflection of hearts poured out to God. In good times and bad He is praised for His faithfulness. The name of the Lord is called upon to save from enemies and deliver from bondage. At times, He is questioned on why deliverance tarries, yet deliverance is always found; His goodness always declared—even in the face of devastation, and anguish. Whether life is throwing punches or blowing kisses, the psalmists call on the name of the Lord—He is Yahweh Shammah—The Lord is there. He is always faithful.

The first Psalm prepares us to pray, reminding the seeker of the favor and blessing promised to those that love God and love His law—meditating on His law day and night. Oh, the peace, the comfort, the joy, that abides in one that meditates on the Word of God. What a gift to have the Word of God so deeply engrained into our very beings…how full we will become—overflowing. I want the Word of God to be the very marrow of my bones. When I know the Word of God this deep—I know Him this deep. I pray for a love for Your Word—Not just scholarly study—Lord I want a love for Your Word. May my heart burn within me as You open up the Scriptures to me (Luke 24:32).

I want the Scriptures to become my thought, my life, my teaching. Augustine

Lord I want everything I say, and write, to be saturated with Scripture. Augustine 
 
“The Psalms are the liturgy for those whose concern and delight is the torah of the Lord.” [3]

Love of God’s Word causes us to be steady as trees—

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.

Capernum, Israel 1992

Trees of righteousness…the Bible refers to believers as trees quite frequently. It sounds very poetic and romantic; however, the imagery sings of something much deeper.

What does it look like to be a tree that plants itself by streams of water? Many believe it means that we are prosperous and that we have reached a place of Sabbath, a resting. I agree, however, that may not be the full picture. Sometimes, we are not in a lush, green paradise, but in a dry, brutal drought or fierce and raging storm.


Jericho, Israel 1992

Palm trees are known for their endurance in the heat and the storm. Their trunks are flexible enough to bend almost all the way over as though they will break, but are able to withstand very strong winds. Palms are also able to dig deep below the surface to find water for nourishment. Their roots go very deep.

When Psalms was collaborated into the book it is now, a prayer book, the Israelites were in exile in Babylon. Babylon was not like home, Israel was beautiful, lush and green. Babylon had only a single river flowing through it, and many irrigation canals draining from its source. Trees were planted, and transplanted, near these irrigation canals. The Israelites while in Babylon were trees that had been transplanted, and they needed to plant themselves nears rivers of water.

“Transplanted to the banks of these irrigation ditches the Israelites—refugees under a merciless sun—thought they were in the worst possible place for prayer. Solomon’s splendid temple was a pile of ruins back in Jerusalem. They didn’t think they could pray. One of them composed a song, a kind of ‘Babylonian blues’ that soon everyone was singing: ‘How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?’ (Psalm 137).” They didn’t think they could. But they did. How did they do it? By letting God’s word enter their lives again, there in exile, and letting his address pull answers out of them. They immersed themselves in torah-meditation: before they knew it they were praying. They were trees. Transplanted to Babylon they put down roots, put out leaves, and produced fruit.”[4]

Life brings some harsh storms. Many times, we feel as though we are a fish out of water in the place we are. We suffer ruthless, damaging storms. We are thrown about, beaten, and bruised by the wind and debris of the storm. Prayer is hard, staying in the Word is hard. However, we must, as trees, dig down deep with our roots to search for water in order to survive the brutal storms or scorching heat. The storms can be so fierce that we don’t feel the strength to dig deep for water. But we do—and that is what forms us into trees, planted by rivers of water. Whether in drought or storm, we allow God’s Word to pierce our hearts and abide with Him in prayer.

Jeremiah employs the same imagery in the book that bears his name:

They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. Jeremiah 17:8 NLT


To be a tree means to withstand the storms, knowing how to plant yourself near streams of water so that heat and drought don’t shake you. Though you may become thirsty, you know how, through God’s Word and prayer to stay planted by the stream.

“We get ourselves ready to pray by looking at a tree, a transplanted tree, and seeing ourselves in it.”[5]

Maybe we don’t belong in the land we inhabit now; maybe we are in a season of exile. We are strong trees, able to withstand the storm. Your exile is almost over.

I go among trees and sit still. All my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles of water…I hear my song at last, and I sing it. As we sing, the day turns, the trees move. Wendell Berry


A tree knows how to use its root system to excavate deep for water. We often imagine trees of righteousness planted in a lush garden, a paradise, where all is peaceful. In real life, we are in
storms—raging, tumultuous storms; a place far from the lush green paradise we pine for. Strong trees know where to find water even though the surface environment is a desert—parched and dry—taunting the tree with drought.

A Tree of righteous will always find water and be able to yield fruit. This is possible when we know God and His Word. When life is hard—which is inevitable—we dig down deep into the Word of God to draw strength for every trial. The first Psalm reminds of this and prepares us for prayer.

We do not grow weary in doing good, because the wicked will blow away as chaff. I love this imagery; in Biblical antiquity when a farmer harvests the wheat, he tosses the wheat into the wind. The chaff has no weight—no substance and is blown away with the wind. The wheat falls to the threshing floor. Both the wheat and the chaff are subject to the harvest—one yields food for the hungry (the righteous) the other (the wicked) are blown away with the wind. God’s promise to those that endure, the righteous, is that however wicked this world becomes, it will not prevail.

Lord of the Harvest, I pray that a hunger and thirst for You, for Your Word, be stirred in the hearts of Your people, that we may know You deeper in a new and fresh way. Lord I pray that our root system would be entrenched in Your Word, that we know where to dig for a drink of water in a dry and thirsty land. I pray Your Word be the root system in which we dig deep for Your Living Water.

Lord as we pray through the Psalms—prepare our hearts for prayer; draw us deeper into intimacy with You—that we may know You in a deeper way. Lord I want to feel you through my entire being, that as I pray, Your Word becomes the marrow in my bones; the blood in my veins; the breath in my spirit. Flow through us and saturate us with Your Holy Spirit.
In humble seeking I pray…

In His Grace,




[1] Lasor, William, David Hubbard, and Frederick Bush, Old Testament Survey, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), 443.
[2] Eugene Peterson, Answering God: The Psalms as Tools For Prayer, (New York: HarperCollins, 1989), 19.
[3]Ibid,, 25.
[4] Ibid., 26-27
[5] Ibid., 27.