Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Sower and Four Types of Soil (Matthew 13:3-8,18-23, Mark 4:3-20, Luke 8:5-15) (01/25/24)
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TITLE: I've Got Roots | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jude Harris
02/01/24 -
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“Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.”
I held on to Scripture promises, believing they gave me spiritual wisdom. But in trials, I admit I depended more on logic and emotion, believing God’s power had limits. Life had offered plenty of opportunities to prove God’s word, but disbelief had hardened my heart.
One day, after a disturbing incident, I felt a pain and despondency no logic or feeling could resolve. “This is more than any human can handle!” I screamed. God must have sighed with relief at my admission. Finally, he found a crack where faith could grow.
I leaned on my friends, but they couldn’t answer the questions only God could answer. Feeling hopeless, I opened my Bible to Proverbs 3:5-6. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Doubt surfaced as I read the words. I didn’t know how to trust an invisible and silent God. I wrestled with these verses, wondering how to lean on God instead of my wisdom. I wondered what it meant to acknowledge God. I didn’t see how to surrender all my heart and held back. I let my emotions manage my thoughts and couldn’t hear God’s whispers.
I wrestled with God for several days. This was one of the hardest struggles I’d ever experienced. Hopelessness loomed. Each time the emotions would rage, it took all my strength to keep believing. If I didn’t endure, my emotions would win.
Exhausted, I tired of listening to myself and began listening to the Holy Spirit. God had been trying to get a word in all along. In the stillness, I learned what it meant to acknowledge Him and how His wisdom was greater than mine. As He whispered, I obeyed.
God couldn’t obey for me; this was something I must choose to do, but hardened by doubt I’d set myself up for a tough battle. The emotions that held me back had fooled me into believing I was sensitive, but I’d become insensitive to God’s word.
Deuteronomy 30:19 NIV “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”
Today, faith is now more tangible and when the trials come, I don’t crumble. I’ve got roots.
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