God May Want You to Feed His Locusts

By Gobel Brockman


     I once heard the story of a pastor of an old country church. There was a lady who faithfully attended there, but her husband, a farmer, wanted no part of it. While he was a good, loving husband to his wife and friendly with the pastor, he was almost belligerent in his belief that there was no God. For several years the pastor talked with the man about the things of God, with seemingly little results. However, after several years of seeing his wife's Godly character and hearing the pastor declare God's word to him, he finally came to faith in Jesus Christ. His wife, the pastor, and many in the community were overjoyed.

     Less than a week later, the pastor got a call - the farmer's entire wheat crop had been decimated by locusts. As he drove to the farmer's home he vented his frustration to God: "God, how could you let this happen? We've spent years talking to this man, praying for this man, crying over this man, hoping to see him come to believe in You. Now that he finally has, You let THIS happen? What do I do or say to him now?" As he walked through the front door, he heard something he did not expect - the farmer was walking through his house quietly singing, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me..." The conversation that followed went something like this:

Pastor: "Uhhh...I heard you had some damage to your wheat crop?"
Farmer: "Yep, I just got back from checking things out. The crop's a total loss."
Pastor: "Uhhh...I gotta say, you seem to be handling it a lot better than I thought you might."
Farmer: "It's this simple - when I gave my heart to Jesus last Sunday, I gave him my fields too, and if He wants to feed HIS locusts with HIS wheat crops, I reckon that's HIS business. I know He'll take care of us."

     There are a couple of lessons we can learn from that farmer:

     *The Bible says in Psalms 24:1 that "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof..." I think we need to be reminded from time to time that we really don't own anything. The house we live in, the car(s) we drive, the money in the bank, and all the "stuff" that we spend our lifetimes accumulating. None of it's really ours, because "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof." It's all His; we're merely getting to borrow it for awhile. I'm very thankful for our house, our cars, and all of the blessings I have in my life, but I try to always remember that they won't fit in my casket when it's time for me to go.

     *That farmer learned a valuable lesson very early in his faith - you can't "give your heart to Jesus" unless you're willing to give Him everything else in your life too. Committing your life to Christ is so much more than just changing how you spend your Sunday mornings. It's a call to surrender every aspect of your life to Him. Your family, your job, your finances, your future....and if I've left anything out, that too. Jesus is not only Savior, He's Lord, which means He gets to call the shots in your life. As it's been said before, either He's Lord OF all in your life or He's not Lord AT all in your life.

     We all have "wheat fields" in our lives that mean a lot to us. I'm not telling you that if you commit your life to Jesus you're going to lose your wheat field. I'm telling you that your heart and your wheat field are a package deal. You can't give Him one without the other, and since the wheat field's already His, you may as well give Him your heart too.

     It's a wise investment.