Devotion – Monday, 11 January
Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watch word for today is taken from Isaiah 56: 8, “Thus says the Lord God, I will gather yet others besides those already gathered,” (Amplified Bible). Gathering a harvest is hard, seasonal work. Once the crop is ripened, it needs to be picked, preserved, packed and stored. Fruits, vegetables and grains, seeds and pods, are harvested to sustain humans with food. Each of these types of food has an optimum season for planting and harvesting. God created different plant types, growing throughout the year, supplying for the needs of humans and animals.
God’s meeting of people to whom He assigned a special task is pictured, in many instances, as a meeting at the harvest floor. Gideon was hiding in a wine press beating out wheat for fear that the Midianites would take the harvest, during the drought. There, while preparing the harvest, the Angel of the Lord, appeared to Gideon and told him that he was to save Israel from the hands of the enemy. Ruth was harvesting with the seasonal workers in the fields of Boaz during the drought. She was rewarded for her hard work with enough food, moreso, with the appreciation and admiration of the landowner, who ultimately made her his wife. God in His goodness gives us food. However, we have to work, harvest and gather “in the sweat of our brow.”
Without God giving favourable weather conditions, good soil and seed, and the necessary workers, our labour would be in vain. God’s labour is never in vain. He promises that it is He who brings in the spiritual harvest, the work of adding members to the number of those waiting for the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. This is a wonderful word of encouragement to us as we are worried about the shuttering of the churches, and the work of harvesting. God works, gathers and harvests. He will gather the harvest. Even though we cannot gather together in the manner we are used to, we need not despair. Let us pray to the Lord of the harvest to make us faithful even if we are in hiding like Gideon! The Angel found Gideon and he fulfilled his God-assigned purpose.
Jesus saw the disciples trying to gather fish in their net. They toiled the whole night, but they could not gather any food from the sea. Upon His command they cast the net in the sea again, and miraculously the net filled with fish, (John 21:6). Alone the disciples could not harvest a single fish, but at the command of Jesus, the net was filled. This is the consolation to the church and her work in the gathering of the harvest: It is not the work of humans, but the work of God. His work continues to create miracles, even when it seems as if there is a drought, as if no harvesting can happen, still a tiny blade of grass breaks through the parched soil. The Apostle Paul explains to the pastor Timothy, “God our Saviour desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” (1 Timothy 2:3-4).
When the tomb was closed with the heavy stone, the disciples and the followers of Jesus were trembling for they were sure that their “Lord and Master” was taken from them forever. They saw his crucifixion and death; they followed to the tomb, they saw his burial. There, in the grave, Christ was hidden from the eyes of humans. He descended to the depths of hell to wrestle the harvest of life everlasting for us. He was the grain that fell to the ground, pounded as if grain, to bring forth the harvest of victory over the last enemy, death, for us. Jesus told his disciples that he is the Good Shepherd and He has to go and bring in the sheep, for He has others who also belong to His flock (John 10: 16). He fulfilled God’s promise spoken through Isaiah 56:8, “I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.” God gathers the harvest throughout this world.
Father, we thank you that you sow, harvest and gather. It is your good will and delight that no-one will be lost. Thank you, Jesus, for gathering your Church to you. Amen.
