Farmers are a special breed of people. Not quite like any other! I’m talking about default farmers of course… There are those who have taught themselves out of necessity, interest or curiosity, how to be farmers. But the particular person who sleeps and then wakes up thinking of their land, crops or animals because that is how they are wired, is a very special breed of person. They live to farm and it is the breath that keeps them alive.
I observed a certain farmer recently who had an errand in a town away from his farm. He’d gone to pick up visitor as well as pick up a few things needed for his activities in his farm. Using public means, this farmer did all his errands. The public transportation in this area is not always reliable. It is uncomfortable and downright difficult to put it gently. It is actually one of those things I personally dread when travelling upcountry…. PUBLIC TRANSPORT. It seemed to me that the fellow was excited… After all it is not often that one gets a visitor in the distant rural areas of Kenya. However, his excitement didn’t seem to obscure his attention to the flora and fauna around in his raggedy vehicle on the beaten off-road path that he took to his farm. No amount of being jostled around in the hot overloaded vehicle without air-conditioning, it seemed, would stop him from noticing the live hedges of properties along the way. So much so, that at one point, I witnessed this fellow request the driver of the vehicle to stop and asked the turn-boy to cut of a vine from one of the hedges so as to plant it in his farm. It seemed that he’d been looking for that particular plant for a while and this was his moment to have a piece of it for himself.
I was perturbed and appalled of course, that this man had the audacity to ask for such a thing. Obviously, he was inconveniencing not only the driver and his helper, but also the other passengers who would obviously much rather move on with their long difficult journey to wherever they were going. Not to mention that there was no consideration to request the owner of the hedge for a piece of it. It turns out that that is the way things are done out there and nobody raised an eyebrow over the events that took place in that matatu that day. Well, the vine was cut off by the obliging turn-boy and handed over to the farmer who carried with a lot of care for the rest of the journey. Interestingly there was a look of contentment and joy on his face. On the last stop where everyone alighted, I did notice that he carried it very intentionally with care almost as though all his other luggage had been forgotten. That wasn’t the end of the journey for him. It seemed he still had a way to go. On to a motorbike (boda) he jumped, vine carefully in hand off to his next destination.
Why would this story be of any significance to anyone apart from proving that indeed farmers can seem strange to the rest of us, particularly those who grew up in the city surrounded by concrete blocks with hardly any soil in sight? It happened that shortly after, I was reading a chapter in the book of Psalms where the writer – credited as Asaph (referring to a family or person) speaks of a vine transfer or relocation. It caught my attention the similarity between the events I witnessed and the writers account in Psalms 80.
Psalm 80: 8 – 18
You have brought a vine out of Egypt;
You have cast out the [c]nations, and planted it.
9 You prepared room for it,
And caused it to take deep root,
And it filled the land.
10 The hills were covered with its shadow,
And the [d]mighty cedars with its boughs.
11 She sent out her boughs to [e]the Sea,
And her branches to [f]the River.
12 Why have You broken down her [g]hedges,
So that all who pass by the way pluck her fruit?
13 The boar out of the woods uproots it,
And the wild beast of the field devours it.
14 Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts;
Look down from heaven and see,
And visit this vine
15 And the vineyard which Your right hand has planted,
And the branch that You made strong for Yourself.
16 It is burned with fire, it is cut down;
They perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.
17 Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,
Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself.
18 Then we will not turn back from You;
Revive us, and we will call upon Your name.
The story is told of the journey of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan. It is a well-documented journey that you find in the book of Exodus. The children of Israel are the vine that is uprooted from Egypt. They are natured, pruned, protected, disciplined, taught and prepared for 40 years, until they get to their destination, which scholars say is a 40-day journey on foot because of the numbers, estimated at 3 million. The ferocity that it took to uproot and yank these people out of this “first world” land of the day, can only be compared to, that which the same nation experienced during the dark days of the holocaust that saw the Jews butchered in their numbers all around Europe in the early 1900’s. The death toll in Egypt during the Exodus may not have been adequately captured in history books and speculation can only be made now. Egypt was a thriving nation, rich in agriculture, innovation and was hailed as a great power to reckon with. It seems that it was to her disadvantage however, that she built her prosperity on the backs of slaves which is never a good idea in the grand scheme of things. The justice of God does not support oppression, at least not in the long run. Anyway, at some point Egypt did face the God of Moses and at some point, in her interaction with Him, she fell a great thunderous fall. It is said that more than half her wealth was destroyed and the nation of Israel left her in a pitiful state. She was never to recover fully.
My lesson was however on how carefully and excitedly, the farmer carried his vine to his destination, much like the way the God of Israel, carried his nation to Canaan. Very lovingly and tenderly often fighting her battles with her enemies. It’s amazing that even though the Lord had delivered His people from a very cruel task master by the means a recorded number of shocking events, leaving no doubt that they were acts of God, they still went ahead and rebelled and disobeyed His commands. I suppose that probably He understood that they didn’t really know Him having lived in a foreign land amongst foreign gods. It’s not like they had books, videos or the internet for information about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel aka Jacob. All they knew was what was handed down by word of mouth and we know how that goes with broken telephone vibes. Anyway, he was gracious and merciful, abounding in mercy and forgiveness all the way to Canaan where they were eventually planted. To their credit they did thrive as they text says but only for a little while. At some point they did begin to disobey and rebel again even after they now knew their God. At the point at which Psalm 80 is written they are in captivity or on their way to captivity as a result of their disobedience once again. The psalmist cries out to God not to forget them and forgive them because he knows God’s love for the nation of Israel and the people of Judah. He pleads for a visit from God to this “vine” in the understanding that even just a mere visit will revive the nation back to himself… So sure, is he of God’s unending love for His people called by His name.
It is a thought that we may want to remain with and hold on to. Through the various difficulties in our lives, some of which are caused by our own disobedience for whatever reason, despite the fact that we subscribe to His Word, His Channel and His Way, we can repent and go back to God and appeal to His unending love and grace. It sometimes baffles me and I must admit I do not fully appreciate or understand it, that he still loves me. What kind of love is this? I obviously need it more than I know because it is availed to me through His sacrificial offering of His life on a cross.
Oh, that we would ponder on His love a little more each day. Perhaps it would propel us to love Him back through obedience. Perhaps it would be a way by which our woundedness and brokenness would be healed. Perhaps it would give us the peace that we need to be content to serve him even when we do not fully understand our present and constant challenges. Perhaps it would be the anchor that we need to hold on to through the stormy gales beating down on us every day. Yes, ponder and hold on we must, until we do see Him again face to face. He does avail grace to Hold on to His unrelenting love.