Lord of the Harvest

Matthew 13: 31 – 32

He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

I must give credit for a catchy phrase to Diane Jones. In a recent conversation regarding seed and harvest she said, “It’s seed sown, not grown.” Upon elaboration she explained that our task is to sow seed, but seed sown is not immediately grown. It takes time for that seed to germinate and produce roots and then a plant. This reality is demonstrated in today’s passage. It only takes a small seed, a seed even as small as a mustard seed, but when given time, nurtured and watered, it produces a plant larger than all the other garden plants. The key here is obvious; harvests take time.

Only a fool would sow seeds today and truly expect the crop to be ready tomorrow. However, faith gives you confidence that you will receive your harvest. Cast your seed and forget about it. If you have faith that you have done what God led you to do, then you should have confidence that in due time that seed will produce a harvest. By forget about it I mean, don’t worry. Relax, have confidence that when you sow, God brings a harvest.

What do you do in the meantime? You water it with your words. You proclaim that you will be getting a crop from that seed. You thank the Father for the rain of His goodness which He sends on all your seeds. Too many times we either forget about our seed or fail in our expectation of a harvest. A farmer wouldn’t do that. Can you imagine a farmer not expecting a harvest after sowing his fields? It doesn’t happen. On the other hand, he doesn’t have to walk through the furrows everyday looking for plants poking their heads through the soil. He knows about the germination period and he bides his time.

The point of today is, sow your seed in confidence. Expect God to bring a harvest. Speak positive words about your harvest expecting it to come in. Speak confidently about the crop. You don’t have to grow the crop, just sow the seed. Seed sown, not grown. Trust our Father to produce the harvest. He will, you know.