To Uproot and to Plant, To Destroy and to Build

UV 4283/10000 To Uproot and to Plant, To Destroy and To Build “It will be that as I have watched over them to uproot and to break down, to overthrow, destroy, and afflict with disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant (with good),” says the Lord. Jeremiah 31 v 28 The Lord watches over us in two distinct ways. Neither evil nor good escapes His ever watching eye. He delights in goodness and abhors evil. He uses His hand in two ways. One, to uproot, to break down, to overthrow the wicked in their complacency and wickedness, to destroy evil and to afflict with disaster the unrepentant, the remorseless, the hardened of heart. Two, to watch over us to build us , to plant us, to establish us, to settle us, to strengthen us. He has a plan not to harm us but to help us. At the same time, He is a consuming fire to the wicked and unrepentant who dig their heels further into evil, who harden their hearts further to disbelieve the goodness and justice of God. In one hand, He holds mercy, love and grace in abundance and in the other, judgement, justice, affliction. Sometimes, He needs to turn our lives upside down before He can work on us, inside-out. Fear of God and love of God are the two faces of our relationship with the Lord. The fear of God will bring us wisdom and restraint in continuing to indulge in what God regards as evil or what is not pleasing in His sight. The love of God keeps us doing all the good we can to all the people we encounter in our lives in one way or another. When both fear of God and love of God are in place, the Lord watches over us to build us, to plant us so that we walk in alignment with His will and His plan for our lives. God is so subtle that He planted nature and the universe in such a way that it appears that it all came into being in a random manner with no divine hand intervening. Likewise, He works out His plan in our lives, concealing His hand so that casual observers will attribute whatever happens in our lives to random chance or what they call luck or fate, when all the time it is nothing that grace that is powering or enabling us. But the faithful and wise are discerning and not so presumptuous. They humble themselves to acknowledge that God is above their knowledge and ability to know. In conformity to the nature of the Lord, as revealed in His word, our prayer life should also follow two patterns- one, to destroy, uproot, demolish strongholds and two, to plant, to build, to cause to grow and flourish the seeds of goodness, mercy, grace of God on earth. Just as the earth is ready and fertile to receive the seed and rain and sunshine to grow and cause to flourish that which is planted in it, the hearts and minds of faithful people in all nations and cultures are seed-ready, eager for the reign and the rain of the blessings of the Lord that cause them to flourish, cause them to be strong, to be joyful, to be always offering up praise, worship and thanksgiving to the Unseen but Faithful One, the Eternal Builder, the Everlasting Planter, the Merciful Master, the Just Judge, the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, physical, moral, spiritual, the seen and the unseen, the visible and the invisible.