Bearing Fruit in the Bible: Lessons from Nature
“Yes, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase” Psalm 85: 12.
The question becomes what is the “good” that this verse speaks of that enables our land to yield its increase?
The sunshine and the rain, of course. And these are metaphors for trials and the Holy Spirt as well. At first glance, you may think the sunshine represents happy times and the rain hard times.
To read the surrounding passage for context, click here.
Bearing Fruit in the Bible: The Sun Represents Affliction
But it’s actually the opposite. In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus speaks of the sun as a metaphor for affliction or trouble.
“Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. . .
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when affliction or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away” Mathew 13: 5, 6, 20, 21.
And in Mathew 3: 11, John says that Jesus will “baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire“. I believe this fire represents affliction.
The Rain Represent the Holy Spirit
And the Holy Spirit is often depicted as water or rain in the Bible. “‘Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive” John 7: 38, 39.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is also spoken of as the early and latter rains (Joel 2: 23).
So, it’s not much of a stretch to say the “good” that God gives that enables our land to yield its increase is the sunshine and the rain.
And by extension, the “good” He gives us personally to enable us to yield a harvest of love (love is the fruit of the Spirit) is affliction and the Holy Spirit.
The reason trouble or affliction is to be considered good is because it is necessary to produce a harvest.
Good Isn’t Determined by How Pleasant Something Is
“Good” isn’t determined by how pleasant or enjoyable a thing is. But rather by what it produces. If it produces something good, then it’s good, no matter how unpleasant or uncomfortable it may be.
In the natural world, the sun alone without rain or water isn’t enough to produce crops. The plants would stop growing. In the same way, trouble without the influence of the Holy Spirit will only harden our heart. And render it useless for sowing seed or bearing fruit.
The presence of Christ comes by faith in His word. We need to believe the troubles are working good in our lives. And that they’re necessary to eventually produce the fruit of the Spirit, which is love.
And that God will deliver us from them once they have done their work in our hearts.
Bearing Fruit In the Bible: How Not to Get Hardened by Trials
If we have the presence of the Holy Spirit in the midst of our trials, the trials will not harden our hearts. But will accomplish the work for which they’ve been sent.
They will ripen us and bring us maturity so we can bear the fruit of the Spirit.
Also notice that both the rain and the sunshine come from the Lord. Our troubles are to be considered good. And as coming from His hand.
I’m not referring to death and destruction and calamity. I’m talking about a word which according to Strong’s Bible Dictionary means “pressure, affliction, anguished, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble”.
So, just as the sunshine is good and necessary to yield a harvest in the natural realm, so pressure, affliction, trouble etc. are good and necessary to yield a harvest in the spiritual realm.
That’s why James says “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. . .” James 1: 2. These trials are just as necessary to bear the fruit of love in our character as the sunshine is to yield a crop or wheat of peas in the natural world.
To read another post related to Bearing Fruit in the Bible: Lessons from the Natural World, see A Grateful Heart Changes Everything.