The Harvest is Plentiful
When my children were young, a friend invited us to share the experience of going strawberry picking in the Georgia countryside with her and her children. The place was vast, and there was plenty to pick. The strawberries looked gorgeous, delicious, and ready to be transformed into a mouthwatering smoothie, succulent jam, or simply placed on fluffy pancakes. My children were ecstatic by the experience; they seemed unable to keep up with picking so many strawberries and placing them in their baskets. What a great joy to see them enjoy that day so much!
When I think of the term “harvest,” the vision of a large field with colorful fruits of all kinds, ripe and crying out to be picked, comes to mind. Their purpose for being planted in the ground has been fulfilled, and it is then time for them to be picked, uprooted, and delivered to a new home with the purpose of delighting the hungriest, or perhaps demanding, palates.
This leads me to reflect on what Jesus says in Luke 10:2: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. Therefore, ask the owner of the crop to send workers to collect it.”
If my friend had not invited me to pick strawberries, my children and I would not have enjoyed such an experience. The same is true for us as believers. Our job is not only to invite someone to pick but also to come along with them and do the job. The harvest is ready and plentiful, for there are many who need to hear the good news about salvation. Now it is our turn to become that answered prayer, to be a part of a battalion of necessary workers who come to bring the chosen into the Kingdom of heaven.
The harvest is great, and the field is also great for harvesting. There is little time left for Jesus to return—we must take ownership of Jesus’ commission to the 70 in Luke 10.
Charles Spurgeon highlighted the need and urgency of sending workers to carry out this great work by saying: “Now the Greek (word for “send workers”) is much more violent. It is that he would push them forward and throw them; it is the same word that is used for the expulsion of a demon from a possessed man. It takes great power to drive out a demon, it takes the same power of God to get a minister to work.”
Will you become one of those workers at your workplace, at your school, or even in your own home? It is encouraging that the harvest is great but sobering that the workers are few. The solution? Ask prayerfully to the Lord of the Harvest to send those available to proclaim the message of salvation.
Great work requires great prayers and supplications to the One who can do everything. Will you trust that your prayer and obedience will fulfill God’s great purpose?
