Every day we get to make hundreds of decisions thanks to our vast personal sovereignty. We prioritize one thing over another, saying No to some things by saying Yes to others. We prefer certain activities while opting out of others. One outstanding example comes to mind: a pastor friend was dressed and ready to perform a wedding ceremony at an outdoor barn venue. It was a romantic setting by a beautiful, sparkling lake. He had arrived early to make sure everything was in place. Glancing around, he noticed, with horror, his car slowly sliding forward into the water! Without considering the consequences, he disrobed down to not-suitable-for-public wear and dashed into the water to rescue a few precious items he couldn’t bear to lose. In this instance, he prioritized his camera and other personal items over his pastoral dignity (much to his wife’s chagrin!). Thankfully, our everyday decisions are not always as dramatic!
On the other hand, we have Jesus’ haunting words tumbling around somewhere in our brains: “The harvest is huge and ripe! But there are not enough harvesters to bring it all in. As you go, pray with the Owner of the Harvest to thrust out many more reapers to harvest his grain!” Matthew 9:37,38 TPT. The capitalization of those two words in the Passion Translation accentuate for us the urgency of Jesus’ exhortation. And that was 2,000 years ago! Taking the briefest moment to consider the ‘harvest’ today, we feel again the burden on Jesus’ heart. The same God who told Moses He saw the suffering and heard the groanings of His people in bondage, is the same God Who, today, continues to agonize over the plight of all His children crying out in great need.
The upshot of this is, as we are ‘pray with the Owner of the Harvest,’ we are positioning ourselves in the company with all His reapers, and would do well to be better prepared than Moses in Exodus 3,4 (or like the foolish ones in the parable of the ten virgins in Matt. 25). God has a Plan and that plan may just intersect with (interrupt?) ours, shocking us, surprising us, leaving us staggering, looking to regain firm footing. I think it’s worthwhile pointing out here that Moses was a young 80-year-old at the time of his famous encounter with the bush! Here endeth my comforting word for today. Love, PD
