Die To Live

For me to speak of the process of germination will surely make Mister Bill roll his eyes since about the only place I can grow anything is in the refrigerator. Nonetheless, when a seed is put into the ground and exposed to the right conditions - water, oxygen, temperature - something amazing happens. Absorbing water, the seed-coat breaks away and what's inside begins to grow; a root emerges and becomes the anchor for the plant that emerges. The prophet Samuel's mother, Hannah, gives a beautiful tribute to God Who made her able to conceive after many years of childlessness: "The LORD puts to death and makes alive ... He brings down and brings up ... He makes poor and rich ... He humbles and exalts ... He raises the poor from the dust ... He lifts the needy from the garbage heap to seat them with nobles and He gives them a seat of honor as an inheritance." (from 1 Samuel 2 NASB). Our tendency is to exalt ourselves but that authority is never ours! We are gently and kindly reminded that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6 NASB). Like that seed that otherwise dies in its seed-form and produces a hearty plant which blooms and bears fruit, so must we die to self so that we become what God desires us to be - "no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20 NASB). In her dire and hopeless circumstances, Hannah learned this lesson and made it her heart's great joy. When God has His way in us and [at the right time] He exalts us, it's beyond and more than we can imagine! Truly, we must ... die to live!