Our Father Sees in Secret

Life on Darling Hill has taken on the morning chills. Many tomatoes are still hanging on the vines, as we truly have had not more than one night of frost warning yet. We still are in hopes that the Lord's sun is going to ripen the last several clusters of them!  A few days ago I was getting up at the top of the driveway and noticed a huge squash vine. The blossoms were full and nice but I knew that this dear volunteer (this is where we throw our old stuff from the garden) had little hope of making us any mature squashes. Yesterday, while on the phone with Syd, he informed me that we had a beautiful pumpkin!

In my haste, I had only looked at the surface; had even misidentified the plant! Syd took the time to step down over the bank and part the leaves, searching for even one little yellow, summer squash, when he was met with a pumpkin almost the size of a basketball! He said that it actually startled him.

In my hasty judgement I thought of the Scripture verse concerning a vine with no fruit, that it is "therefore good for nothing". Once the hidden fruit was revealed though, this reminded me of two section of verses from the Bible. "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart."I Samuel 6:17 and some verses from a text the Lord has been bringing me back to for many weeks now, "But when thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth; That thine alms may be in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee  openly. And ...when thou prayest, enter into thine closet, and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Matthew 6:3-6.

Sometimes "fruit" is not obvious to the passive observer. Even as regular, Bible-instructed Christians, we do not always see the fruit that lies within another believer. This may be because we are looking for a person who "turns the world upside down", as Paul and some of the early believers did. Often there is true fruit laying deep down in the heart of a Christian; fruit borne of spending much time with the Lord in prayer, getting to know His heart. These may be quiet, behind-the-scenes people whom the Lord uses so greatly in His service. The fruit might be hidden beneath the leaves, but it is there, doing its work. This morning I read a verse from John 7:24, "Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgement."

The Lord used this "volunteer" pumpkin vine to help bring together in my heart, some teachings on judging others and to be careful not to look only for colorful, outward fruit, which the Lord does openly display in some of His servant's lives. Either way, the Lord will reward openly those who know Him as Savior and honestly walk with Him in truth. What a loving God we serve; One who wants to have close, intimate fellowship with His children.

Thank you for visiting the hill today. We hope you'll come up to see the colors that will be developing in the next few weeks!