Message summary: Today we focus on an exhortation and promise about the harvest of souls.

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"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9).

Driving through the countryside yesterday afternoon I observed harvest time. On Long Lane a huge combine was harvesting soy beans using modern farming methods. Just up the road from us our neighbor is harvesting butternut squash demonstrating farming history. His older children were in the field cutting each butternut squash off at the stem. The squash will sit in the field awhile as seen in our lead photo to cure before they're ready to be picked up in a horse-drawn wagon and sent to market.

I like the sights, sounds and smells of harvest time. How many of you have had the sensory experiences to know what I mean? You may even feel some of the corn shucks blowing in your face or get a taste of straw or some other plant debris.

This prompts some reminiscing from long ago. Right after we got married I worked on a harvest crew during hay harvest on farms in southern Missouri. I worked from early afternoon when it was dry enough to bale and well into the night at times to get the hay in the barn, especially if rain was forecast. I finally returned to my new bride, bone-tired and exhausted, only to get up and repeat the next day. That's the way the harvest works. You just can't put it off till you feel like doing it. That hard work had a formative impact on who I am and God used that season in my life for a purpose.

Harvest is used throughout the Bible beginning in Genesis, normally to describe the agricultural reaping of crops as we still use the word today. But in the New Testament it is used several times with spiritual meaning.

1) In one sense it's for the harvest of souls. Jesus had a prayer request concerning this harvest: "Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field" (Matthew 9:37,38).

2) In a second sense it's for the result of living in obedience and faithfulness to God.  "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9).

Today we focus on an exhortation and promise in this daily text which actually applies to both senses:  

The Exhortation: "Let us not become weary in doing good". "Become weary" is literally "lose heart". This word was used of the farmer who was tempted to slacken his exertions because he had become so weary as a result of his prolonged effort.

The Promise: "for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up". The proper time is also translated "due season". This will be at God's appointed time, not ours! "Reap" conveys the picture of cutting ripe grain and gathering the bundles together. Paul does not give us specifics of what this harvest is. He only guarantees a sure return on our investment, relying on that certainty motivates us to seize the opportunities God gives.

Are you weary or discouraged today? "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9).

Be encouraged today!  Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber