Chapter #3: Introduction
A farmer in North Carolina
lived on a beautiful farm that his family owned for many decades. They
had cultivated that same land for several generations, sowing and
reaping in the fields year after year. Finally
the farmer died, and after being in the family for more than two
hundred years, the property was sold to one of the neighbors.
As the new owner of the farm was walking in the field, he saw a large, unusual-looking rock just barely sticking out of the dirt. He picked it up and began to examine it. He could immediately tell that this was no ordinary rock but some type of gemstone. He took it home, washed it, and took it to a jewelry store in the town where he lived. The jeweler confirmed what the owner already suspected; the old stone that had been in that field for thousands of years was a large, uncut emerald that has since proved to be worth several million dollars!
This gemstone was in that field all along just waiting for someone to come along and “discover” it. For generations farmer after farmer had worked in that field. Undoubtedly that emerald had been seen thousands of times before, but it was overlooked because, to the casual observer, it appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary rock.
When we “discover” a thing, we are actually uncovering or finding something that is already in existence but that we were unaware of previously.
And while many people are desperately seeking God’s will for their lives, the reality is that often what they are looking for is right under their nose, but they continue to look for it because they don’t recognize it. In order to recognize a precious stone, one would need to be familiar with its characteristics and know what it should look like.
In the same way, if we desire to discover God’s will for our lives, we must learn to recognize the characteristics of His will.
As the new owner of the farm was walking in the field, he saw a large, unusual-looking rock just barely sticking out of the dirt. He picked it up and began to examine it. He could immediately tell that this was no ordinary rock but some type of gemstone. He took it home, washed it, and took it to a jewelry store in the town where he lived. The jeweler confirmed what the owner already suspected; the old stone that had been in that field for thousands of years was a large, uncut emerald that has since proved to be worth several million dollars!
This gemstone was in that field all along just waiting for someone to come along and “discover” it. For generations farmer after farmer had worked in that field. Undoubtedly that emerald had been seen thousands of times before, but it was overlooked because, to the casual observer, it appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary rock.
When we “discover” a thing, we are actually uncovering or finding something that is already in existence but that we were unaware of previously.
And while many people are desperately seeking God’s will for their lives, the reality is that often what they are looking for is right under their nose, but they continue to look for it because they don’t recognize it. In order to recognize a precious stone, one would need to be familiar with its characteristics and know what it should look like.
In the same way, if we desire to discover God’s will for our lives, we must learn to recognize the characteristics of His will.
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