Harvest While the Sun Shines
I have hauled hay like many young men have done, usually in their early 20's or late teens. I am no different, and one summer we harvested over 17,000 bales of hay when we lived in Fruitland, Missouri. On one particular day we had already been hauling hay bales for about seven days in a row and had plans to do the same on that day. Much to our surprise (no weather channel) I awakened to dark clouds on the horizon and the threat of a rain storm. As I put my hay hauling clothes on I thougtht, "maybe we will get a break today because of the storm." I walked out to the field and the guy who had hired me already had the tractor hooked up and the wagon ready so we could begin the process, but the other two guys who were haulers were discussing not working that day. The farmer wanted to get this last batch of hay in and proceeded to say "Aw it ain't gonna rain!" He referenced a past experience where they quit because of the threat of rain one day and it didn't even rain. We turned and looked at the clouds, knowing it was more than a threat for rain. IT WAS GOING TO RAIN!
Of course, you know what happened. We had loaded about thirty bales of hay on the wagon and the bottom dropped out of the sky and it poured down. The farmer put the tractor in high gear and we road the wagon back to the covering of the barn. I remember the sheepish look on that farmers face as the rain pelted the ground, and the hay in the field for at least an hour before he told us to call it a day. As one of my fellow hay haulers left the barn he said those fateful words, "I told you so!" Since I was standing next to the farmer I just shrugged my shoulders and left, but I had thought the same thing. In 2 Peter 3 Peter writes 3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. 4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.” 5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. 6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. 7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
Jesus IS coming again!!! Just so you know. God's Word and His promises are true and us getting a little bit antsy about when it is going to happen doesn't change the fact that He is coming. There will be those who try to persuade us to forget God's promises, but don't do it. Peter brings the example of creation and the flood into the verses to serve as a reminder that God has been faithful in the past and He is faithful still, no matter what the scoffers say. All of this doubt is what the enemy wants to use to get us distracted from the fact that we need to harvest while the sun still shines. Jesus is coming and even though we don't know when, He is coming. So don't forget, as Peter says, that God made the heavens and earth by the word of His command and it was done. By a word!! Peter goes on to say that the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire for the day of judgment. Those who don't believe will not escape God's judgment and it is up to us to take the message of Christ to them before it is eternally too late. While the sun still shines.
The message of Jesus himself spoke to the need for us to reach the lost and in Matthew 9:35-38 Jesus states the need for us to "make hay" while we can. 35 Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.37 He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few.38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”
The storm is coming and yes, there will be those who doubt the weather report, but the storm IS coming!! One initial part of the pride we sometimes fall captive to is the thought that we are invincible and that we can continue in our own strength in life, but that is not true. Our lives should be lives of surrender. Surrender to God's Will and God's ways. So if we know that God says in His Word that a storm is coming we should lives our lives with an urgency to do the work of the Lord with that promise in our minds. Jesus continues to call us to "make hay" while we can. The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:16 16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Harvest While The Sun Shines....
The Pilgrimage continues......
David Warren