“Do not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” John 4:35
The passage in John from which this verse has been extracted, has always challenged me because of the profound transformation, and all that it implies, that took place in the life of the Samaritan woman during a brief encounter with Jesus at Jacobs well. Yet it is the verse above that constantly confronts my own sense of containing God to a set framework of action or boxing God into a pattern of formulated responses based upon my own experience, expectation or knowledge. How often do we fall into the trap of thinking if we can just get all the pieces into the right places then God will move in mighty power and strength with amazing signs and wonders?
As Christians we stumble over this hurdle all the time. If only I prayed more, or if only I didn’t think that thought, or if only I was able to control my response to that situation, if only I read my Bible more – then God would move in my life! In our churches we can stumble over things like: if only there was unity, or if only the worship flowed, or the preacher was more charismatic in his style, if only we had a certain anointed preacher come to our church then everything would change! Can I liken it to the following: I have heard many married couples say that when they can afford to have children – they will! Yet the reality is that on paper we could probably never afford to have children, just like your families could probably not have afforded to have you! Yet you are here and you made it! We can become paralysed by our insufficiencies and our inabilities if we allow ourselves to focus on the “what ifs” or the “when that happens” or the “circumstances just aren’t right yet”. Solomon seems to say it best in Ecclesiastes 11:4 “He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.”
God’s amazing provision for our lives can only be found as we move through the journey of our lives. If we wait until we have everything we think we will need for it all to come together, we would never get to our destination. And even if we thought we had every base covered something would still pop up that we had not prepared for. When did everything change, when did it become all about us rather than all about God? Do we think we are so important that we can hold up the plans of God for His creation? When God wants to move – He will. If He wants to speak - He will use a donkey, If He wants to destroy a giant - He can use a shepherd boy. The illustrations go on and on. Nothing so starkly illustrates to me that God’s redemptive plan is based upon God’s timetable, not my spiritual perfection, than the birth, death and resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ. The conditions were not right for revival, the religious leaders where corrupt and power hungry, the Roman oppressors arrogant and hedonistic, the common Jew burdened by law and guilt, and yet God said the time is perfect for my Son Jesus to fulfil my redemptive plan.
Do not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Stop looking at the timeframe and the conditions. Stop saying why it can’t happen now. Stop saying, when this happens then it will be time, and do what Jesus said: Lift Up Your Eyes! When are eyes are focused on ourselves and the circumstance of life everything, including our own failings, will stop us from ever attempting, let alone expecting God to move through us in the miraculous power of His Holy Spirit. The enemy is skilled at making us aware of all our faults and all our insufficiencies. The enemy is an expert at restraining us by using our past to tie our lives up in the knots of guilt and shame. The enemy is accomplished in making us question our own place in the kingdom of God. So it’s time we stopped looking down where he can focus our attention on the negatives of life and lift up our eyes and see all that the Almighty God has done through the sacrificial life of His Son Jesus and the indwelling gift of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Lift up your eyes and see what God has done already, what God can provide, and that the harvest is ready. Friends I would rather be a donkey through whom the voice of God can talk than a man paralysed by my own human failings. I would rather be a humble shepherd boy than a mighty warrior in the army of Israel, afraid of failure. Now is the day of Salvation! Now is the day of Victory! Now is the day of harvest! Precious friends don’t let this day drift into the past without seizing the moment with all of your weaknesses and allow God to be the strength that you need.
When we stop trying to work it out and just surrender our lives to Jesus – His grace will be sufficient, His gift of faith enough, the guidance of His spirit comforting and His strength prevalent in our weakness. Let’s stop looking at all the reasons why it isn’t happening or why it can’t happen and start seeing all that Christ can do when we stop saying, No - I can’t and start saying Yes – He Can!
It’s no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me – Hallelujah!!
Jeffrey