Issue 1434 – Planting – April 29, 2024
I found myself reminiscing about a short-term mission trip to a closed country in Southeast Asia I was on about 20 years ago. An image of looking out the window of a bus headed across the country came to mind. The picture was snapped through a dirty bus window, on the move from some distance.
It looked like a scene from a National Geographic Magazine or every Vietnam-era movie I had ever seen. Rice paddies as far as the eye could see, with women in the traditional “coolie” hat planting rice. To them, it was expected, everyday labour. To me, it was exciting, as I had never thought I would see it in person.
The paddies are ingenious in design. Small mud dams hold the water back and flood the crops. Controlled openings regulate water flow from paddy to paddy, allowing maximum use of a given amount of water. Stalks of rice are brought from the nursery area and planted by hand in the mud. They will be tended there until the dry season when the ground around the rice dries.
The heads of rice will be hand-harvested with a sickle. The stalks will be burned in place, fertilizing the soil and the damns repaired in anticipation of the next harvest. It is labour-intensive work, and all process steps must be completed before the rice is ready for harvest.
Like any crop, it takes work, time, and a degree of faith to bring it to fruition. I was reminded of Jesus at the Samaritan well after He had sent the woman off. The disciples have rejoined Jesus.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” John 4:31-38
The disciples were confused. What could Jesus mean when he told them His food was to do Father’s will? Did it mean that He did not need to eat? Of course not! Jesus was fully man as well as fully God. His body had the same needs as any human.
He meant that He did not need temporary sustenance to continue His work. He knew that bringing souls to harvest was a labour of many parts. Like a rice harvest, each step must occur before the harvest begins. Each step is undertaken in faith that the harvest will happen.
We may not see results when we share the truth or minister to others. However, we do not have to grow discouraged by that fact. We can be sustained by knowing that God is responsible for the harvest. Each of us does our part in faith and leaves the results to God.
The Apostle Paul understood that fact very well.
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. 1 Corinthians 3:5-9
Till the soil; pick the rocks; prepare the seedbed; plant; weed; water or harvest. Do your part faithfully, and the harvest will be huge. Do not grow discouraged if you do not see results.
Continue to work in faith. Fruit takes time to mature.
Until next time, may you be sustained by the faith that God is responsible for the results. Your part is to do your part.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV)