Finish this saying: The grass is always greener...
This summer, we visited some family up north. As I was sitting in one house, I found myself thinking, “Man, it would be nice to have a big new house like this, with a big garage, and a nice vehicle or 2 to go in the garage. Oh, and a garage door opener, I have always wanted one of those. Or I think, “If I could only win the lottery.” Or “If I was only in the Beatles.” “If I only had a heart.”
‘If I only had a brain.”
We have all thought this many times in our lives. We often look to the things or relationships we don’t have, thinking it will make our life better or make us happy. This has been the case for the Israelites who Moses led out of Egypt. They were wandering around in the wilderness, still thinking the grass was still greener back in Egypt.
This comes right after Moses gets the ten commandments from God and breaks the tablets because of the people’s rebellion. He goes back up Mount Sinai, gets the new tablets. God makes Moses put them in a wooden ark or box (so he can’t break the second copy). Moses addresses the people proclaiming that the people should love and serve God above all else. Remember that this is the main message of the 10 commandments.
Duet 11:13-15 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
Basically this says if you love, obey, and serve God, He will provide everything you need. It is interesting that he mentions rain and grass.
Did you know there are about 10,000 types of grass including rice, corn, wheat, sugar cane, and bamboo? God provides rain and sun to make the grasses grow to feed us and provide for our needs. The grass feeds the cows so that we can have tacos. Our lives depend on the grass that covers 2/3 of the earth's ground.
When we start looking at and lusting after someone elses greener grass, we allow our envy to rob us of a deeper relationship with our God.
Here are a few ideas that will keep us on track:
- Be content with what you have. Thank God for what you have, not for what you don’t have. Thank God that although your grass isn’t as nice, you don’t have to mow as much.
- There is always someone with less. You are rich in comparison to much of the world. There is always someone in worse living conditions or relationships. Ask God to use what you have to meet other’s needs.
- Grow where you are planted. Grass grows exactly where it is planted. God has you here for a reason. Whether it is in your neighborhood, your church, or your family. God wants us to love and serve Him right here, right now!
- True joy and contentment comes from God. John 15:10-11: If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
The Bible mentions grass over 50 times. One of the most recognizable verse is: Isaiah 40:8, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.
This isn’t in the Bible, but I’ve heard it said, “The grass is always greener over the septic tank.” This is in the Bible: Ecclesiastes 6 (the Message) “We work to feed our appetites; Meanwhile our souls go hungry.”Feed your soul. Let God worry about the grass.
