I've been mulling a few thoughts around for the last few weeks and needed to write them down for my own memory, but I also think many of you might need this reminder as well.
First a story. Because that it how it starts for me. Something I am doing, which is usually is connected to food in some way, growing, cooking or eating (this is a new realization for me, which just makes me smile to know that my Father speaks to me using something I love); that causes me think about something I am currently learning, worrying about, or life circumstances.
We have a community garden plot that is at a lovely little lake and trail. During the summer, we will go each morning to water and then walk around the trail. Our walk takes us to "Stumpy", Christopher's favorite tree stump. Yes. Tree stump. As we make our way to Stumpy, we pass bush after bush after bush of wild blackberries. So we started picking and eating them every time we were there. There are lots of other plants around that also had berries on them and I began to wonder if they were safe to eat as well.
So I bought a book about foraging in the PNW. I downloaded an app that will take a picture of the plant and then tell me what it is. I then research it at home to find out if it is safe to eat and what it is good for. And oh my goodness, there is so much out there. I've found Plantain which is good for bee stings and skin conditions; chickory which is used as a coffee replacement, rosehips which are high in vitamin C and used to make syrups and jellys; tansy which is good for fevers and GI issues; Oregon grape which is also good for GI issues. Ive also found Poisonberry among other harmful plants!
I've been eyeing the rosehips all summer long waiting for them to be ready to pick. Last week on our usual garden trip, I grabbed a bowl and told Christopher we were going to forage for some rosehips. They have turned red and I wanted to try to make some syrup with them. As I was picking them, I questioned myself over and over. These are the rosehips right? So I would look at the stem and the leaves. Yes, rosehips. You know those converstations you have with yourself, Yes No Yes No?! Yes, I was confident that these were actually rosehips. I spent all summer looking at them!
Because one thing Ive learned in foraging is that there are look alikes. There are counterfits. And alot of times those counterfits are poisonous. Poisonberry happens to look very similar to a rosehip. And there happened to be one about 10 feet from my rosehip bush. If you arent careful, If you dont know the details of what you are looking for, you might mistake it for something that looks and smells like the real thing. But I only learned the difference by studying the real thing!
Ive been thinking about how Satan tempted Eve. He didnt lie to her. He just questioned what God told her. When Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, He used scripture to do it. He convinced Eve, who had no concept of sin or evil up until this point, to doubt who she already knew YHWH to be, by having her question if what she knew to be true was in fact true. Satan disguises himself as the angle of light! He crafty, knows scripture and knows how to tempt us.
We are a church full of people who don't know the truth. Or only know parts of it. We like the parts that make us feel good about ourselves. We avoid the parts that confront us with the truth of who we actually are, sinners in need of a Savior. And by not immersing ourself in the scriptures, we miss the truth of who YHWH truly is and we cant tell what is truth from what sounds like truth.
And there are so many things out there right now that are claiming to be right and true and we cant see that they are counterfits because we don't what the real thing is. And the only way to know what that is is by being in the word. Its memorizing it. Its reading it over and over. Its mediating on it. Its allowing the Holy Spirit to use the words that YHWH has ALREADY SPOKEN to us and allowing that to determine what we believe about our Creator. Because that is what is at the root of all of this. Not knowing who He truly is.
It is so easy to twist scripture to fit our agenda. And unless we know the word of God, Unless we know the heart of God, we mistake the things that sound mostly good and mostly right as the truth.
As we were on our walk today, I was thinking about all of this again and John 15 came to mind. "I am the vine, you are the branches, if you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing." I had to look at the whole plant, leaves, stem all of it, to make sure I was picking the right thing.
There are alot of voices out there claiming to speak truth and we need discernment. “Discernment is knowing the difference between Right and almost right.”
