Proverbs 14
Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests, v14.
I am writing this in the house of friends that I have known for 21 years. They were faithful members of my first church in a farming community. The church was called Church in the Barn and it did what it said on the tin: meet in a converted animal barn on a working farm. Every Sunday we worshipped to the smell of animal dung and the noise of cattle in this new church plant. It is easy perhaps to imagine a church worshipping in the mess and the smells of a farm. However, the true mess was within the Church. God sent to us all kinds of people with every behavioural or social problem you can think of. Broken, bruised and battered people came to this small church and they found an acceptance, love and the grace from God. Within a few years the barn was filled with worshippers.
I learnt that to see Church grow we needed to receive and clean up the mess.
The manger is clean only if there is no oxen because cattle leave a whole heap of mess. But without oxen to plough the fields, there is no harvest.
Is your manger empty? Maybe it is because you have become a bit too comfortable, perhaps focusing too much on being tidy and orderly.
Maybe today you can accept a little mess of your life …
Some people who don’t seem to go away …
A difficult or tough job …
Tiring studies that don’t make sense …
Hard work …
Children’s bedrooms!
One day you will look back as I do today and say that period of my life though difficult was worth it.
Missions Paul 