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I was struggling with deboning a chicken breast. Why is this job so hard? I wondered, the meat slithering and slipping between my fingers as I hacked away with a big butcher knife. The meat was looking a bit mutilated.
“Use a boning knife. And here, let me sharpen it,” offered my husband. He hated doing a job with the wrong, or inferior tools. With a few deft moves of his sharpening tool, the right tool was ready for me to tackle the chicken breast again.
“That's much better,” I said, as my knife sliced cleanly through the meat, separating it from the bone. Soon I had enough chicken for my recipe.
A passage on using the right tool is actually in the Bible:
“The farmer knows just what to do, for God has given him understanding. A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin; rather, it is beaten with a light stick. A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin; instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail. Grain for bread is easily crushed, so he doesn’t keep on pounding it. He threshes it under the wheels of a cart, but he doesn’t pulverize it.” (Isaiah 28:26-28 NLT)
The farmer is familiar with the individual seeds and grains he has planted. Just as my husband understood knives better than I did, the farmer understood how to plant and harvest each seed or grain. He knew which tool or method to use for the job. According to the seed or grain, each tool or implement is uniquely suited to it.
Jesus said, “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.” (John 15:1 NLT)
God, the Father, is the gardener, and knows his “plants”, that is, us, well. Like the variety of the farmer's seeds and grains, we are all different. Like the tiny seeds, so easily scattered, we all have different weaknesses, and live with different circumstances. God, our gardener, deals with each of us in a way appropriate to our personalities and situation.
God's tools are never used with a heavy hand. He does not hit us over the head with a sledgehammer, to crush us mercilessly. God is gracious, and uses His tools appropriately to lovingly guide and fashion us.
We need to remember to deal with others sensitively, recognizing that each responds better to specific treatment geared to that person.
Remember how it is/was with your children? Some need more firm discipline, while others are easily rebuked with a reproachful look or sensitive words of correction.
Let's follow the example of the farmer, who uses different tools for different jobs.
Please pray with me. Thank You, Lord, that Your Word even has instructions on farming methods! Thank You, that we can take the example of the farmer's treatment of his crops, and deal with those You have put in our sphere of influence, according to their individual makeup and circumstances. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Alice Burnett
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
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