“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
***
The Sunday school teacher walked timidly into the classroom. She had a shiny new book of curriculum and a battered Bible. Four children sat in hard plastic chairs of bright colors at a semi-circle brown table. The teacher smiled and sat down. The children smiled back.
To the side of the room an old bookshelf sat with a few Bibles. Next to the black, shabby Bibles sat some glossy red workbooks, construction paper and some paints. The teacher looked at the children and they looked back at her.
Slowly she reached for the Bibles and carefully handed one to each child. Then she opened hers. The children looked at each other, then at the bright red workbooks. One by one they opened their Bibles.
Gently the timid teacher helped each child find their place in the Bible at John 3:16. When all of the children were at the same place, the teacher asked who would like to read.
A boy who had a smear of dirt across his face and ragged jeans lifted his hand. After finding out that his name was Eli, the teacher smiled again and asked him to read the verse. With halting words Eli spoke the truth of life into the little classroom.
***
This then is the substance of teaching. For the promise was not given for our own ideas or clever games but for the Word of God. Just as the rain and snow fall to earth and nourish seeds that lead to harvest and food … so is God’s Word.
Each time His Word is spoken on the earth whether into young minds or old minds – this promise prevails … God’s Word will never return to Him empty but rather will accomplish what He wants and achieve His purposes.
I can’t imagine a Christian who would deliberately withhold food from a starving world, let alone hungry children.
Nourish the world – read, believe, speak, and do the Word of God.