Is the harvest ripe and plentiful in your location? It is too easy for our hearts and minds to be weighed down by problems because of a small harvest, or what looks like hard ground.
Some people have the joy of a plentiful harvest when it comes to reaching unreached peoples. They have to struggle with difficult issues and problems because of a large harvest in their focus location. For many faithful laborers though, the struggle associated with a plentiful and large harvest seems so far away. They have to deal with crippling feelings about a small harvest and or what looks like hard ground.
Is this you?
Fruitfulness and multiplication in scripture
These are one of the most repeated themes in scripture. In Genesis we see promises made to Abraham, ending in Revelation. There are descriptions of a harvest from every tribe and nation. So what do we do with this theme of multiplication and fruitfulness in scripture. Are the fields of the world ripe for harvest or not?
Crippling feelings about a small harvest
My story. I am tempted to think that the ground is hard, and the harvest is not ripe in my region, after all, my focus nation is a large Muslim majority nation. There is Islamic law in several areas. There is unconstitutional religious and ethnic cleansing in other areas. Add to this, rigid cultural patterns. There are private jihad armies that occasionally kill hundreds and at times thousands of followers of Jesus – the list goes on. If I follow my feelings, then maybe I should go home and live a quiet life of prayer and wait until God does something?
Excuses and wrong thinking
There came a point in my own journey where I had to admit that I had built up a list of excuses and wrong thinking. My underlying beliefs and feelings affected my perceptions of reality about the people I was trying to reach. I struggled to train people to harvest. I was more comfortable to train people to go and sow.
If you want to harvest, there must be sowing. But we have often separated sowing from harvesting and ended up convincing ourselves just go and sow – the field is not ripe to harvest. Disciple Making Movements are a fruit of finding a way to engage in harvest for what looks like a hard dirt field.
A ripe harvest can look like a hard dirt field.
Our feelings about a small harvest, or what looks like hard ground are like thieves and robbers, leaving us in a state of unbelief. Do you see hard dirt fields, or a ready harvest of lost people waiting for the good news of our Saviour? Faith is anchored knowing God is at work.
If you are in pain and disappointment because of a small harvest, or even no harvest, acknowledge it. Let’s realign our beliefs away from seeing fields that look hard and not ready. Let’s align to what Jesus said, “the harvest is ripe.” What do you see?