Sometimes ministry can feel so overwhelming and constant. How can God call us to balance when He’s given us so many good and fruitful things to work on and think about? I love the humility and dependency seen in today’s passage (in fact, I encourage you to read the whole chapter sometime this week!). Paul clearly states that spiritual growth depends on God and God alone; He is the One “who makes things grow” (3:7). Since growth depends on God, we do not need to feel like we must go full-speed ahead 24/7. We can trust that our Father is holding everything in His hand, and He will make His words and His message grow at the rate He chooses. 

Christ Himself demonstrates this by going to be alone with the Father in the middle of ministry. Mark 1:35-37 states, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: ‘Everyone is looking for you!’” When the disciples find Him, Jesus doesn’t apologize for not meeting their expectations or being away but instead states, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come” (Mark 1:38). Jesus doesn’t allow opinions to cloud His vision of His God-given purpose; He clearly seeks the Father and follows the Father’s will.  

The Father’s will is not the same as worldly wisdom. In fact, further down in today’s passage, Paul states that “…the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight…” (1 Cor. 3:19). God calls us to balance and calls us to Himself in a world yelling at us to keep moving and hustling. God gives us different seasons for different things (Ecc. 3), but even during our busiest seasons of ministry we are called to seek the Lord first and foremost, just like Christ did. Ultimately, we are working from a place of having all things through Christ and belonging to God (1 Cor. 3:21-23), with Christ alone as our foundation (1 Cor. 3:11). This frees us from working from a place of striving to working out of gratefulness and fulness in our Father. 

As a type of benediction for today’s devotional, let’s proclaim and dwell on Isaiah 55:8-13: 

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, 
neither are your ways my ways,” 
declares the Lord. 
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, 
so are my ways higher than your ways 
and my thoughts than your thoughts. 
As the rain and the snow 
come down from heaven, 
and do not return to it 
without watering the earth 
and making it bud and flourish, 
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 
so is my word that goes out from my mouth: 
It will not return to me empty, 
but will accomplish what I desire 
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 
You will go out in joy 
and be led forth in peace; 
the mountains and hills 
will burst into song before you, 
and all the trees of the field 
will clap their hands. 
Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, 
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. 
This will be for the Lord’s renown, 
for an everlasting sign, 
that will endure forever.”