It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;  

to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

Just after the morning rush hour along the A3 we arrived at a ‘PYO’, or pick-your-own garden and horticultural centre, to harvest some bags of strawberries and raspberries. We’d come here only the previous week with our 4 year-old grandson, but it was a Monday and there were few pickings after the weekend’s visitors had ‘grazed’ and left the fields bare but for unripe berries. But it was a useful time to teach Luca how to pick them.

So this time we went mid-week and arrived as the centre opened at the start of another very warm summer’s day – wonderful, at long last! The berries had basked but not baked in at least three hours warm, early morning sunshine. Nina headed for the strawbs and I went to the raspberries, only to find not so many ready for me!

And yet, in what I discovered I also found a parable from the Lord.

Ripening raspberries around the top and sides of the long rows of bushes need only a slight squeeze and tug off their stalks. Ripe ones come off very easily. Now, I always look within the bushes and at a lower level to search out any hidden from view under all the broad leaves.

Inserting my hand at waist height, and down to my knees, I slowly waved my hand inside the bush – ripe berries dropped into my palm! The motion had nudged them off their stalks. Completely effortless! The best, lush ones had been missed by previous visitors and were so ripe they were about to fall to the ground.

I was blessed in this sign of the abundance that comes when we draw close and reach into our heavenly Father.

What He has for us is so readily accessible – it is at hand. All we have to do is hold out our hands, rather than pick and choose from what’s in front of our nose but not yet ready. If we take that, it may be ok but not as good as what is already available deeper in His Presence. So why be satisfied with less?

I recalled Proverbs 25:2 about the glory of God and that of a king, as above. Also, this occasion spoke of a recent debate about the Bible and nature of God between a blogger friend and a disbeliever. Today’s parable speaks of her gazing at this bush only to focus upon the many unripe berries. Even in selecting a reddening berry she’d squash it with a hard grip.  Luscious, ripe fruit is out of sight. It is hidden because mental blinkers prevent lateral looking. Its existence dare not be considered or sought for. Such an attitude stops oneself, and would prevent others, getting closer to the bush.

Thank you Lord that you’re closer than we can conceive, and readier to speak than we are to seek…