Alan Fong
3 min read
Alan Fong
3 min read
Alan Fong
3 min read
Bruised Bread Corn
Today’s Verse:
Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. ~Isaiah 28:28
The Bible is very rich in its use of analogies, metaphors, and parables to help make a Bible concept become very real to the reader. Through symbols that we can identify with, God enlightens our hearts and minds to the timeless truths of His Word. Isaiah 28:23-29 uses the symbol of a plowing to help us understand the means that God uses to effectively work in our hearts.
We see the doctrine.
“For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.” Doctrine is what we believe. It is the set of beliefs that defines our practices and behavior. It is God’s will that we are filled with His knowledge and understand His doctrine. Through doctrine, we learn to discern between good and evil. We become discerning as to God’s will for our life and that which is satisfying to us and God. Isaiah 28 recurringly calls God’s people to hear and receive the Word of the Lord with open and tender hearts.
We see the devices.
“Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?” God uses the metaphor of a plowman to describe how He gets His Word into our heart. The plowman will plow the dirt to make it ready for sowing. Plowing is needed to break up the clods of soil. Soil gets lumpy and fallow over time. The plowman knows that he needs to break it up before he can sow. He spends a lot of time plowing, but not all of his time. As soon as the soil is made ready, he starts to sow seed. The Lord must break up the fallow ground of our heart so that we are ready to receive the engrafted Word.
We see the differences.
“When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?” Different types of crops are harvested and processed differently. A farmer knows how to treat each crop. Our Lord has to work on each of us differently. Each of us is different. In His love, He knows precisely how He must work in us for the best crop result. Don’t be discouraged that God works in you differently than He does in someone else. It is God which worketh in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
We see the discipline.
“Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.” The plowman has to bruise his corn in order to get the kernel of wheat. He rolls the cart over it several times until the kernel comes out. This is a beautiful picture of how God uses chastening, or discipline, to make us teachable. He has to “bruise” us through discipline so that we turn from disobedience and being incorrigible. His goal is to break the hardness that is keeping us from being obedient and usable.
We see the distinction.
“This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” God’s counsels are wonderful and excellent. They do not need improvement. They are infallible. His counsels are the delight of our soul. Like Job, we should esteem them more than our necessary food. “Give ye ear, and hear my voice.”
Have an attentive God Morning!
Bible Reading Schedule: Psalms 51-57
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