The saying holds true ‘One sows, and another reaps.’ John 4:37
According to ancient economic records the saying was very true. Often field workers worked on the land, while others literally reaped the harvest. In the ministry the saying rings true as well.
It is easy to become discouraged in ministry. So many are angry and resentful, selfish and blind to the outpouring of love from Christian’s efforts. Some days it would be so easy to just say “Not today, just once I will not share the gospel, this person doesn’t want to hear it anyway.” I have been accused of being in a cult. Once, I was accused of being a vampire and enticing children into to church where we could drink their blood (this happened when we hosted a Vacation Bible School in Ukraine).
I live close to a lime quarry, so our soil is alkaline. It is wonderful for beets cabbage and Brussel sprouts, but not berries. Berry bushes of all kinds simply cannot produce fruit. I had blueberry bushes for quite a few years. I tried to lower the pH in the soil by planting them in sawdust, and watered them. I added nitrates a few times over the course of the summer and watered them some more. Year after year I had beautiful, green bushes and no berries. When we attend summer camp in Northern Minnesota, we often take an afternoon and go blueberry picking where there are fields and fields of blueberries. No one cultivates them; no one does any incantations over them, yet the blueberries are plentiful. The soil is good.
God is working in the lives of the people you are surrounded by.
You have no idea what your dentist might be dealing with in his family life; what the kid in the drive-thru might be going through at home. God has brought them into your path. That person may not change, but you might have the opportunity to plant a seed. Someone else might have to reap the harvest.
Recently, there was one thirsty soul who I had the privilege to lead to the well and she drank. She became a Christian and is bringing her friends and family to church. Like a wild harvest, she was ready to come to Jesus. She has had a long and arduous journey, but now she is a child of God. Somebody else planted the seed. In her childhood, someone allowed her to come to church. She wandered for many years, but she knew she wanted to get back to that place where she felt loved, I just simply asked her, “Would you like to come for a Bible Study?” It triggered something from deep in her past and she knew this was the place where she was going to be safe.
In the reading of the prodigal son (Luke 15: 11-32), the father of the prodigal son watched every day for him. The bible says the prodigal son spent years away from home. Thousands of days passed as his father watched the road and said to himself: “Today will be the day my son will come home.”
One day he did.
God might be working in the lives of those you are surrounded by, but he does need you to be His hands and feet. He needs you to simply say, “I know where you can find a drink.”
“The fields are white unto harvest, but the laborers are few.” Matthew 9:35-38