On Raking Leaves

Therefore, my dear friends, … continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Ph 2:12f).

The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps (Pr 16:9).

Can it be – could God be speaking out of both sides of His mouth? No. This is what J.I. Packer calls an antinomy, “an appearance of contradiction.” God, for all time, has said, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways” (Is 55:8). And we know that He “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph 1:11, my italics).

God is mysterious – He cannot be explained. And, that is OK! Mystery gives oomph to our faith. God is unpredictable, neither is He capricious. And, that is where we land. We plan, He directs. How, then, should I plan my way? What, if anything depends on me?

I saw this principle illustrated in a vivid way: God is sovereign, and my decisions matter and make a difference.

I raked leaves today for over six hours! I know it’s March; you come tell my trees that the fall is back a few months! I obsess over leaf-raking. I set out to rake every last one of them. I don’t like to rake leaves. I like to be outdoors, but leaf-raking to someone like me is bad. I also have a pattern. I rake in neat rows, turn exactly 90º, make identical piles, and generally rake downhill… when possible.

What do you think is the worse thing that could happen to me? (Pause) Wind! Wind is from the pit of hell to the leaf-raker. Leaves go back to where they came from, and there is no alternative but to rake them again! I hate raking a leaf more than once!

I could have planned the life cycle of the tree better, I think. Once I enjoy the Technicolor beauty of the fall foliage, the leaves could just disintegrate!

Oh well, this is what I learned. At 9:30 this morning, leaf-raking was down around 5000 on my want-to-do list, but it was Numero Uno on my Git-‘R-Done Today list. For the first half-hour or so, I … pouted and grumbled – sinning in full view of God, my family and all the neighbors. Lesson #1: Leaves do not rake themselves. God for-ordained from eternity past for you and I to do things, things that matter. Yet, learning the doctrine of human instrumentality is not the lesson that touched me most this morning.

Lesson #2: Wind is not a friend of the obsessive. So, I had a decision to make: Would I force my “pattern raking” to happen in the face of changing circumstances or not? Here’s what I did. I became very sensitive to the direction of the wind. I befriended him. Or … her. When the wind came from the north I raked … south! When it turned, I turned and raked the other way. I had to run to the other end of my area a couple of times, but I didn’t knuckle under and do it my way, regardless!

Here was a perfect example of God’s sovereignty along side my responsibility. The wind is God – blowing whither it wishes. I respond responsibly with cooperation. I seek not to harness nor alter the path of the wind – it is out of my control. Yet, by choosing responsibly, I actually do avail myself to the power of the wind to accomplish my task!

Cool, huh? Admittedly, there were times when the wind swirled and caused havoc on my neat piles and rows. But, today, I learned deeper the beauty and mystery of God.

How might we learn from this in our days as followers of Christ? I see at least two ways. One, we can relax and take ourselves less seriously. God is in control and “will accomplish what concerns [you and] me” (Ps 138:8). Two, we can learn to cooperate with God and His Spirit (“wind” in the original languages!), and again, relax in our diligence.

We have to listen to God’s Spirit to grow wise. Listening is a matter of removing distractions and diversions and creating space for
God to speak clearly. And He does, and He will!