Daily Devotional
Sowing Under Trial
These readings set before us a hard truth: life in this age is not ease but trial, and in trial a man is revealed. Absalom stole hearts at the gate by flattering the injured and offering judgment without righteousness. Job lay under wearisome nights and learned how frail our flesh is. Gog rose up in proud violence and became a sacrifice to the birds. The apostle therefore commands us how to live while the days are evil: restore the fallen meekly, carry burdens, and do good without weariness.
The church has never been served by fair words without truth. Absalom’s speech was smooth, but it ended in rebellion and blood. We must not seek the praise that comes from appearing compassionate while despising the yoke of obedience. If we would help the wounded, let it be in the law of Christ, not in vanity. As Cyprian says, “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ; Galatians 6:1-2” Such burden-bearing is costly: it corrects a brother, gives bread to the poor, forgives an enemy, and refuses to mock the weak.
Job teaches us not to expect rest here as our portion. The present life is a field for sowing, not a storehouse for rewards. Therefore, as Clement says, “And let us not be weary in well-doing. Galatians 6:8-9 On him who by Divine Providence meets in with it, it confers the very highest advantages — the beginning of faith, readiness for adopting a right mode of life, the impulse towards the truth, a movement of inquiry, a trace of knowledge;” God will judge proud deceivers like Absalom and Gog, but he will also gather and sanctify his people. So let us sow to the Spirit now, by steadfast obedience.
“Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ; Galatians 6:1-2”
— Cyprian, Epistles
“And let us not be weary in well-doing. Galatians 6:8-9 On him who by Divine Providence meets in with it, it confers the very highest advantages — the beginning of faith, readiness for adopting a right mode of life, the impulse towards the truth, a movement of inquiry, a trace of knowledge;”
— Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies)
For Reflection & Discussion
Whose burden will you carry this week in a concrete way—by giving money, food, labor, or patient presence—and when will you do it?
Is there a brother or sister overtaken in fault whom you must restore with meekness, not gossip; what words will you speak, and what pride must you first confess?
What act of well-doing have you begun to neglect through weariness—prayer at set times, almsgiving, fasting, forgiveness, or care for the poor—and how will you take it up again today?
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