While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. Genesis 8:22 KJV
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Hoseah 10:12 KJV
But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 2Corinthians 9:6 KJV
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:7-9 KJV
I had the strangest thing to happen to me a week ago. Last year I planted a full size garden in my back yard. In addition to the garden plot, I also intermingled vegetables within my flower beds. After all, vegetables are flowers. I planted several perenial plants but I often forget what I have planted.
I noticed a plant growing along the side of my house that kept growing taller every day. I wondered what it was and when it was going to flower. Eventually, it did get some flowers on it, so I was contented. My husband obviously did not care much for the plant because during one of his yard work episodes, he decided to pull the plant up. I think that he thought that it was a weed. Actually, it turned out to be carrots.
He brought these huge, swollen carrots in the house and I was amazed that I had actually grown carrots. You see, the year that I planted the carrots, they yielded no fruit that I knew of. These carrots were 6 inches long and at least 2 inches in diameter. I hope that you are able to visualize how big these carrots were. As I sat there looking at them, I saw a spiritual principle playing out right before my eyes.
I had planted the seeds that would yield carrots and I had nurtured them for an appointed time. They probably yielded fruit the first year that I planted them, but I was not familiar with cultivating carrots. Apparently, I nurtured them for a sufficient period of time and then they were able to fend for themselves, replenish and reproduce after their own kind. So, I planted carrots and I reaped carrots.
There were some issues along the way, however that we need to work through. First of all, I planted the carrots without fully understanding the nature of the carrot and what was required to reap a harvest. However, regardless of my shortcomings, I was able to bear fruit. Often times we hold back from doing a work for the Lord, because we think that we don’t know enough, or we don’t have enough, or we are not holy enough. Listen to me, if you sow the seeds of righteousness and good works, they will produce fruit. Of course, you gain knowledge as you go so that you get more efficient at sowing a particular seed. I now know what a carrot plant looks like, so if I intermingle it in my flower bed again, I will be able to spot it from a mile off. So it is with us, we must be able to recognize the good results of our sowing so that we can understand what we did right and what needs to improve.
Secondly, the time to reap the harvest of carrots came at the same time every year, but I did not recognize that it was harvest time. As a result, I left the fruit in the ground for too long. How often do we sow seeds of righteousness and good works but never go out to reap the harvest? How often do we just let the fruit go bad in the ground. My carrots were huge but they were so tough that they were no good for eating. When the time comes to harvest the fruit, we must harvest the fruit. We must continue to sow and when we see the plants peaking out of the soil, we must watch to know the day that we must pluck them from the ground. Do not leave the fruit in the ground until it becomes useless.
Thirdly, since I did not harvest my own fruit, someone else harvested it in my stead. In this instance, the fruit was no good but sometimes others will reap a meaningful harvest of our work. We also reap the harvest of another man’s work. We typically do not grow our own food anymore. We do not make our own clothes anymore. We did not and could not die on the cross to pay for our own sins. Every day we reap the harvest of salvation. The lesson in this is that we need to sow seed for others to benefit from and not just ourselves. We need to tend the garden to insure that the fruit is good to be picked by whoever needs it.
Fourth, I did not know what seeds I had sown but I knew that I had only sown good seed. When we sow good seed, the benefits to ourselves, our family, and others is tremendous. We should sow bountifully, righteously, and prayerfully. Then when the fruit is ready to be picked, we must reap mercifully. We should look around to see where the need is and distribute according to the need. Also, when we sow good seed, anyone can partake of the harvest.
Sowing and reaping is a Spiritual principle that God established directly after the flood. He has promised that there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night while the earth remains. This applies to every area of our lives in which we desire to see fruit. If you are single or married, man or woman, child or adult you must sow to obtain the desired harvest. Our actions must be deliberate, we must chose the seeds with care. Once they are in the ground, we must nurture and care for them until they grow and can stand on their own.
Is there an aspect of your life in which you think that you are not getting the desired results? Examine the seeds that you have sown. If you have sown good seeds, have you taken the time to care for them? If you have cared for them, are you harvesting the fruit in the right season? If you are harvesting in the right season, are you doing it with mercy? Who is benefiting from your labor besides yourself? Wherever you are in life, you have sown to get there.
© 2009 Michelle Fuqua
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