When we bought our current home it had a nice, lush front lawn. Our sprinkler system was finely tuned to reach each part of the lawn and flowerbeds. I worked hard to keep the lawn looking as nice as the day we took the keys to the house. No weeds or other unwanted plants – just a nice blend of Zoysia and Bermuda grass.
Last spring my lawn came under assault. It was like Poland in 1939, instead of German tanks my lawn was invaded my moles. It wasn’t a surgical strike. Instead, what seemed to be a regiment of the little furry borers began making tunnels in my flower beds and lawn. Grass began browning as the tunnels pushed up from underneath. My beautiful lawn was losing its color, form, and flat surface. I set out to rid myself of the little devils.
When the warm part of the summer began, I went to program our sprinkler system. I put it in test mode and selected zone one. A heard a few spurts and saw some dribbling from the sprinklers in the front flower bed. Surprised, I switched to zone two. I heard a gurgle from the front yard, then nothing. I moved on to zone three, which did come up and work – somewhat. The front sprinklers did not pop up. Frustrated, I moved on to zone 4. It was music to my ears, as I heard those sprinklers in the back of the house come on and work properly. I repeated this test process several times, hoping things would change. They didn’t. Only zone four did its job.
I liked our sprinkler system. It had saved me countless trips to water the lawn. Now the front of the system no longer worked. I traced the mole tunnels in relation to the system outlay, and it was obvious that my underground interlopers had tunneled their way through the system several times. Now I had a browning front lawn and a broken sprinkler system with what looked to be hundreds of dollars of repairs needed. Frustrated, I put out an oscillating sprinkler in the front yard, and continued my war.
Over the months I removed several moles from my yard. I also had a reminder of why they called the game at Chuck E Cheese, “Whack-A-Mole”, because for every mole I took out, it seemed another took its place. This spring they started back up in my yard again. Out came the trap. They made more tunnels. They had tunneled so much that they began to head down the side of my house toward the back yard – which is where they made their mistake. Our Westie, Ziggy, happens to patrol our back yard, and while we were on vacation, Ziggy did what he was bred to do, and caught the moles as they entered his area. Over the next couple of weeks I saw no new mole activity, and Ziggy was my hero.
Sprinkler Resurrection
This past weekend my wife and I planned to put in a soaker system to take the place of our defunct sprinkler system. I have done repairs to systems before, and I knew that this repair was going to be pricey, so we opted for a cheaper solution for the summer. We decided we would check and see of zone four was still working, so I put the system in test mode. I started the cycle and it went to zone one.
We heard a few sputters, so my wife went to see what was happening. I heard her laugh and call to me that zone one seemed to be working now. I advanced to zone two expecting to hear a gurgle, when instead I heard my wife scream. It seemed that somehow zone two was working perfectly, and she had inadvertently been standing in its cross-hairs when it turned on. I quickly advanced to zone three and watched it come on and work as it should. By then my partially soaked wife was standing with me. We both looked at each other and laughed, because it made little sense. What had been rendered out of order and not working properly for us had somehow came back into good working order. We had tested the system several times over the previous 18 months, and all but zone four had failed every time. Now it was working fine and running up my water bill.
Broken Things Can Be Redeemed
As I stood there amazed at what was happening, I remembered Romans 8:28:
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
You might be thinking that my sprinkler system being restored after a great mole invasion may not quite qualify for this verse. I don’t have an answer for why my sprinklers are again running at 11:30 and 6:00. What it did do was remind me of the many times in life where things looked like they were ravaged and broken, yet over time things that should have beaten me down or destroyed me instead turned and worked in my favor while making me stronger. I had a broken sprinkler system and a brown yard, both of which are now changed. They are doing in my life what they are supposed to be doing.
I lost my mom when I was 12. I felt alone. Yet Jesus became more than just a velvet painting to me, and I was never alone again.
I found myself as a single dad. My dreams had been shattered. Yet God brought a wonderful woman into my life, and this year we celebrate 24 years of marriage and four wonderful children.
I was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and told IF I lived I’d have a colostomy bag for the rest of my life. Yet God moved in my body, healed me of cancer and restored damaged tissue to perfect condition so that I don’t have that colostomy bag. I could go on of how God took things that weren’t working on my behalf and somehow made them work together in a way that ended up being good in my life. Many didn’t happen for some time, but they did work out better than most people imagined.
Have you ever asked yourself why does God do this? The first answer is simple – because He loves us. The love that gave Jesus on the cross for your sins and mine in order to bring us back into a place of intimate relationship with God is the basis for turning those rough times into something for our good.
God Won’t Be Mocked
There is another reason that is important for you to understand. The principle flows throughout the Bible, but is most plainly stated in Galatians 6:7-8
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
God does not allow Himself to be mocked. In this specific context this attribute is related to how a person lives their life, and what the results will be. If a person lives contrary to God, they will end up with the result – spiritual death and separation from God. His holiness will not be made light of without consequence.
This principle extends to all situations. God will not be mocked. We see in the Old Testament many examples of where God showed His power and authority when His name and holiness were questioned. The greatest example is in God’s handling of Lucifer/Satan in Isaiah chapter 14 and in Genesis chapter 3. The one who said, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High” was cast down from Heaven. God would not be mocked. Later when God had created the Earth and its creatures and said that they were “good’, Satan came to Eden to influence and introduce man to the intimate knowledge of evil. God pronounced judgment on him again. God will not be mocked.
When Satan comes to wreak havoc in your life, he seeks to displace you from the call of God, steal the life God has for you, and to destroy the impact you are to have in this world. He is mocking God and using your life to do it. God has no intention of being mocked in your life or mine. Your life is a canvas on which Satan’s accusations against God can be answered in vivid colors. Look at the promises of God in light of this, and stand firm. When hard times and trials that come your way remember what Paul wrote in Romans 8:
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Make your decision to trust God during the hard times and expect Him to turn those events into something for your good. Love him in the midst of the trials, and continue to pursue what He has asked you to do. Answer Satan’s mocking of God with a strong “Not in MY life” and press on. One day you’ll be looking back and see the Hand of God at work in your life to give you the future you will flourish in.
