Good news for the countryside: Tough times – lessons from Job

The unprecedented wet weather of the past winter and spring has had a devastating effect upon every aspect of farming. The inability to get cereals, vegetables and potatoes planted at the correct time, sodden fields preventing livestock grazing and the additional costs for extra feed and potentially lower yields, have all contributed to the financial and mental stress experienced on our local farms. A tough time for all.

In the apple orchards, we have to spray very regularly from late March to control scab, but the wet conditions made it virtually impossible. It was no surprise that I got the tractor and sprayer stuck on several occasions! Even with crops such as strawberries under polythene, the lack of sunshine has held back flowering and delayed fruit development.

Here in Armagh, I have a neighbour who has been managing orchards and vegetable crops for over 60 years and this is the worst spring he can ever recall.

Even in 1985, which was the wettest year during my lifetime, things weren’t as difficult in the first part of the year, as the weather didn’t turn bad until July, and by then all the planting had been completed.

During the recent wet spell of weather, I sometimes thought about Job, one of my favourite characters in the Old Testament – a man who certainly knew and experienced tough times. With 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 donkeys and 1,000 cattle, he was no ordinary farmer! However, not only did he lose all his livestock, he also lost his entire family of seven sons and three daughters, when their house fell on them during a storm.

Sometimes when things don’t work out well, or when things go wrong in our lives, we could be tempted to blame God. Job’s reaction to the devastation he had suffered, however, was amazing. This was his response, “‘naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised’” (Job 1:21).

And despite all he had experienced, we read in the next verse that “Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”

Job’s faith in God is really to be admired and something which we should aspire to. He could honestly say “‘though he slay me, yet I will hope in Him’” (Job 13:15). He knew that God had given him everything, but even if he had died, Job would see the Lord and be with Him for all eternity. Death would not be the end for him, and neither is it for us. It is only the beginning of a fantastic future in heaven for those who have repented of their sin and have Christ as their personal Saviour and friend.

Later in Job’s life things worked out well for him and the Lord restored his livestock and gave him a new family. He was able to say, “‘I know that you can do all things, no purpose of yours can be thwarted’” (Job 42:2). Let us all pray that we get favourable weather for an abundant harvest and we are all able to look back and conclude that, despite the tough times this spring, it all worked out well in the end.

David is married to Pauline and they have four grown up children. Since retiring from the Grass Breeding Department at AFBI Loughgall, he grows Bramley apples, which he supplies to local processors and packers. David is a member of Loughgall Presbyterian Church.

If you would like to talk to someone about any of the issues raised in this article, please email Rev Kenny Hanna, PCI’s Rural Chaplain at [email protected] or call him on 07938 488 372.