Harvest Will Come
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9
Early February has been unnaturally warm. Whenever we have a few warm days I roam the outdoors and imagine the garden that will come in time. I get excited just thinking about it, and I’m ready to get started. But it isn’t time. Planting now would waste money, time, and energy. It won’t be long until we can get started with some cold season crops, but it’s too early, even for them right now. When I think about gardening, I’m already imagining carrying those buckets of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers into the kitchen. There is nothing quite like produce you’ve worked for and taken care of from seed to table. It tastes better than the store bought variety. I know there are hours of hot and dirty work to happen before that first bucket, but my mind is on the harvest from the very beginning. It’s hard to not become impatient and frustrated, or jump ahead of the season and plant too early.
This is the very reason the Word compares our Christian walk to husbandry so often. There is an allotted time, and a season of work required before any harvest in available. It’s impossible to skip steps, or jump ahead of nature. It doesn’t matter how much we desire or hope for the harvest, it will come in its time, and not before. The same factor limits us in our desire to see a harvest of souls or growth in our church family. We have no more control over that growth than we do the growth in our garden. Sure, we can plant, water, and tend to the weeds, but we have to rely on the Son for the harvest.
So, how do we learn to continue in well doing, and faint not? How do we do everything that we’re supposed to do to serve our Master, tend the garden, and prepare for the harvest to come… and do all of these without becoming frustrated or giving up?
Find someone who knows what they’re talking about… When we are learning to garden, it’s good to align ourselves with a seasoned gardener and listen to their advice. I wish I had listened more to my elders as I was growing up, but like most youths, I didn’t see the need. In my Christian life, I’ve been fortunate enough to be taken under the wing of a more experienced soul, who speaks words of calmness and patience into my life, when I am ready to leap ahead of what the Lord has planned. Every now and then, my impetuousness gets the best of me and I get frustrated and want to do something to ‘help the situation along,’ my wise friend just smiles with patience and speaks words of wisdom into my life that help me realize, once again, that I’m not in control of this situation.
Trust in the Lord… In gardening, we have a known outcome. Seed packets typically say, “65 to 85 days to harvest” or something similar on them. So, we have an idea of when to expect to see the fruits of our labor. In our Christian walk, we aren’t given that information. We are to trust the Creator, and walk ahead in faith, trusting Him to provide everything we need to do the work He’s called us to do. We have a number of promises from Him.
He won’t quit on us…
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: Philippians 1:6
He won’t let our work yield nothing…
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:58
He’ll give us everything we need…
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8
Our work won’t go unnoticed or forgotten…
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. Hebrews 6:10
Beloved… when we have a day when all we can think of is how good that harvest will taste, and we become tired of waiting and feel an urge to leap ahead of God’s perfect plan, remember one thing. God is in control… He’s all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-present. Not only does He understand exactly what needs to happen when for everything to work out perfectly, He understands how badly we want to see that harvest, and will sustain us until the appropriate time if we just lean on Him.
