Faith & Reflection
I paused to watch a couple modern-day combines hungrily gobbling up crops this week and simultaneously did some reminiscing.
Harvest was an exciting time on the farm where I grew up. We all watched for good weather and hoped for late frosts and good yields.
I vaguely remember threshing machines. Dad bought his first combine when I was about six years old.
I told my Mom that I missed the threshing machine, the big straw stacks and especially the threshing crews. She said, “I don’t!”
As I continued to walk down memory lane, several Bible verses that speak of harvest came to my mind.
Genesis 8:22 promises that, “While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night, shall not cease.”
Harvest is perennial and while there are many variables, years turn into decades, centuries and millennia and the earth continues to provide crops. Jeremiah was called the “weeping prophet” because he was so burdened for the spiritual welfare of his countrymen. The nation of Israel at times seemed to care so little. He wrote, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!” (Jeremiah 8:20)
They not only missed the harvest — they were not even in the right field!
Of course, a successful harvest is largely dependent upon obtaining and planting good seed. The early church was instructed, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” (Galatians 6:7)
I have been telling people for many years that if they insist on seeding their wild oats, they should not expect to harvest grade A wheat.
Jesus taught that there is a “harvest in the end of the age.” (Matthew 13:39)
This spiritual harvest is described in greater detail in Revelation 14 and is ominous to say the least. I am concerned as I sense that we live in a culture that is increasingly unconcerned and skeptical about a day of reckoning ... yet, “... each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Romans 12:14)
Jesus spoke of a spiritual harvest. He said, “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest?’ Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” (John 4:35)
He is speaking not of corn or grain, but of the harvest of souls for the Kingdom of God. Those involved in this enterprise recognize and appreciate that this harvest excursion can take place in any weather, geographical location and 365 days a year.
“Think oh grateful thinker, how good the God of harvest is to you!”
Pastor Ross Helgeton is Senior Pastor at Erskine Evangelical Free Church.