Two milk cows
1 Samuel 6:10”Then the men did so, and took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home.”
NOTE: I write this for all Pastors, preachers, Youth leaders, Prayer cell leaders, Sunday Class teachers, Christian ministers, Bible College students, Women leaders and to all serving the Lord in His Vineyard.
OPENING: I recently heard Ps. Joel Osteen, Sr. Pastor of Lukewood Church, share a testimony about his father Rev. John Osteen, who at the age of 77 while going through kidney dialysis, asked his son Joel Osteen to preach on a particular Sunday, though he first refused then stirred by the Holy Spirit, he agreed to preach on that Sunday and made his father very happy; however, that following Friday Rev John Osteen went to be with the Lord. I saw the commitment of Rev John Osteen, who preached Sunday after Sunday though writhing with pain, no wonder his church reaps bountiful harvest now. God watches our faithfulness in our adversity and how we keep our stability, when everything around us is shaking! Anybody listening?
INTRODUCTION: Two Milk cows: Let me read verse 7: prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there has never been a yoke; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves home, away from them.
After the deadly confusion that we read in 2 Samuel chapter 5, the Philistines, went to their priests and diviners to find out the reason for the mayhem. The presence of the Ark and right reverence to the Holy God would have brought peace and joy in the land, but here their priests were giving them instructions as to how to send the Ark back. Imagine! Many people run to the wrong people and in the wrong direction for instructions and eventually get into a greater mess.
In order to know the heart of God, the Philistines took two milk cows, now I got to talk more about these two cows because everything revolves around them, observe the qualities of these two cows: “prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there has never been a yoke; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves home, away from them.” Phew! It was too much, now let’s watch and hear the voice of God today!
The deal was, read verse 9, “Watch, if it goes up by the way of its own territory to Beth-shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then we will know that it was not His hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance."
A. Inexperienced for the job: 1 Samuel 6:7. “…prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there has never been a yoke..” Cows that have never carried a heavy load were chosen for the job, so that if they do carry the load and go to the destination then the test that the Philistines conducted would be proved – whether the crisis they were facing were because of their sins or if it was by chance, and yet, in verse 12, it states:
“And the cows took the straight way in the direction of Beth-shemesh..” We see perfect unity, harmony and oneness in their spirit as they go forward with a heavy load on their back. Experience is of no big concern if God has cherry-picked you for the assignment, He would empower you with the expertise, skills and knowledge required for the job. When we relocated our ministry to Hyderabad, little did I know that God would be sending me into an arena where I had no expertise or know-how., neither did I possess the skills to handle children. EDUCATION INSTITUTION was never in my mind; however, God in fact had been planning this from my birth. I had this passion to instill education in the lives of the poor so that their lives improve; God used my childhood trauma, ordeal and adversity as a platform to launch me to start a full-fledged English medium school for the poor with afternoon lunch.
B.The cows were focused: “the cows took the straight way in the direction of Beth-shemesh..”
The cows were being directed by God, though they were set up by the Philistines, anybody listening? When you are sent by God, then you would go in the right direction stage by stage, watch me say stage by stage, the blue print is not given to you, are you listening? Though there may be severe obstacles, failures and discouragements during the process, we got to keep going in the same direction like the milk cows rather than change route. It’s easy to say, than do it when you are in it, are you listening? People get discouraged after one year of starting the church and compare themselves to mega churches and feel down but fail to understand that they didn’t arrive there in a jiffy.
Even after Ruth left her home town and followed Naomi to Bethlehem with commitment and determination, she was not spared the hard work, loneliness and pain that she had to endure during the initial stages of her stay in Bethlehem. Naomi then instructs Ruth to go to Boaz, read Ruth 3:4” ….you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down; then he will tell you what you shall do." She is not told what would happen after that, she is left with the words ‘ he will tell you what to do!” If you obey the first set of rules, then God would give you the next set of direction, you got to walk by faith and not sight. When God in the year 2009 commanded me to relocate our ministry to Hyderabad, my daughter had just completed her high school and my son was in class 4, scary situation; however, I obeyed and then God step by step cleared the way for us, it was not easy though.
C.they went along the highway (1 Samuel 6:12) –the two milk cows did not take a short route or crooked route but went the right way and along the highway. No matter how tough it is, when we choose to go the right way and do the right thing, God would stand by us and with us, say Amen. We are running a free Government recognized school for the poor, when we had to produce a list of B.Ed trained teachers for approval, we were advised by some people to keep bogus resumes of teachers and show as though they were enrolled as teachers in our school but we refused to do so and determined ourselves to do the right thing. God watched our faithfulness and our school received ‘Recognition certificate’ within a short time.
D.”….lowing as they went, ( 1 Samuel 6:12) The two milk cows were still nursing their calves who were taken home, away from them, when they were sent on a mission to Beth-shemesh, so they were lowing as they went. These words kind of touched me a lot, today we hear very less of suffering for Christ and people only keep harping, raving and talking on blessings and prosperity. Despite the pain of staying away from their loved ones, these milk cows were committed to their calling, they did not turn back or pause, they lowed but they kept moving fast in the same direction. Today, people close churches or ministries for very frivolous reasons because they lack endurance, tolerance and sometimes they are in utter confusion without clear vision, taking advice from the right person is very crucial at this stage.
Since we also run Angel Home which provides free shelter for the abandoned children besides education, we need huge staff to run the show. One particular season, we had no staff, the sweeper, cook and the Home warden fell very ill and we were left to fend for ourselves. Well, we put up ‘wanted’ boards around our school, fasted, prayed and waited anxiously for staff to join. They did join but left within a couple of days, during this period, I had to wake up in the wee hours while it is still dark, around 3.45 am, do my prayers and then start cooking and waking up the Angel Home children, take them to school and then start preparing for the cooking there, this cycle was driving me crazy. I in fact was wailing like the milk cows in secret but continued to do the work, not a day we closed school because we had no staff, the school kept running. Glory to Jesus! The Home children during this period got rashes all over their body and handling this too was very strenuous but we took care of them and they got healed through the blood of Jesus. Amen. Suffering is part of our ministry, we should never feel that God is absent during this period, He is very much with us equipping us to handle tough situations. Besides the heavy load on them, think of the milk cows who felt heavy with milk; yet, though they were lowing, they kept moving straight towards their destination. Anybody listening?
E.They did not turn aside to the right or to the left – Yes, this is key if we got to have the favor of God in our life and ministry. When Joshua had to fit into the gigantic shoes of Moses and lead the mammoth crowd of more than 6 lakh of people, the Lord looked at Joshua and said: Joshua 1:7” Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.”
When we get distracted from following the words of God, and turn to the right and the left, then we would hear lot of other noises and voices which is not of God and thereby end up in misery. It is very necessary that we stay committed and determined otherwise, it is tough to survive in this world which is dominated by social media. You get 1 M (million) advises for head ache, much more for other problems, so stay focused on His Word.
Deuteronomy 5: 32 says, “You shall be careful therefore to do as the LORD your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. “
Stop being unstable, dig your heels deep with grit and determination and stay committed to the cause. Proverbs 4: 25 says, “
Let 25 your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.
27 Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”
Friend, does this means that you would hit no boulders along the way? Ah, that is far from the truth, there would be huge hurdles, cash crunch, sickness and much more that would frighten you but stay….stay…..and keep going the same way…read:
Isaiah 30:20The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him. 21And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.
The above are the great learning we get from the two milk cows who are like committed missionaries who accomplished their mission with precision. God bless you!
