Harvest Longings

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 13:28-30 NLT “An enemy has done this!” the farmer exclaimed. “Should we pull out the weeds?” they asked. “No,” he replied, “you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest.”

THOUGHT: If you garden, do you ever cut flowers that don’t even have buds yet? Do you pick fruit at an orchard before it’s ripe, or buy veggies at the farmer’s market that are small and hard and bitter to the taste? A farmer that harvested the wheat or corn before it was ready would be rightfully called foolish. He or she would lose a big investment, unable to sell crops that weren’t any good.

And yet, when we think about our Redeemer coming and making all things new, don’t we often express longings that it be soon? The prophet Amos once said, What sorrow awaits you who say, “If only the day of the LORD were here!” You have no idea what you are wishing for. That day will bring darkness, not light. In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion only to meet a bear (Amos 5:18-19 NLT). The coming of our Redeemer and righteous judgement on the weeds is harder than we like to imagine.

As we survey the weeds and our own endless fight to rid the world and ourselves of them, it does my heart good to remember that God has a plan for harvest, at the right time (the Kairos). The weeds will all go on a bonfire then, never to be seen in the garden of our lives again.

PRAYER: Teach us your patient approach to the good and bad seeds, Lord. When we see the weeds spoiling the view, and feel their thorns prick us as we garden, help us remember the real Enemy who has done this: our ancient enemy and yours – a battle that is not with flesh and blood – and be willing to wait for your Kairos.