Proverbs 10:5: “He who gathers in summer is a wise son, / He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.”

June 14th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Solomon used a picture from agriculture, the harvest time, to explain an important spiritual truth: if you miss the harvest season, the entire year is lost. He also said in the Book of Ecclesiastes: “To everything there is a season, / A time for every purpose under heaven” (3:1). We find the same concept in Jesus’ parable of the sower (Matt. 13:1–9), as well as His statement to his disciples, after He spoke with the woman at the well in Samaria: “Do you 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). God is telling us that in each believer’s life there is a special, opportune time for harvest that will not always be there. God wants us to be sensitive to the spiritual season around us. It is also important, when speaking to others, to try to discern which season they are currently in and whether they are open to hear about God or not.

Evangelist Dwight L. Moody, by his own admission, made a famous mistake on October 8, 1871. It was a mistake he determined never to repeat. Preaching that night in the city of Chicago, he drew his largest audience yet. His message was “What will you do then with Jesus who is called the Christ?” By the end of the service, he was tired. He concluded his message with a presentation of the gospel and a concluding statement: “Now I give you a week to think that over. And when we come together again, you will have an opportunity to respond.” A soloist began to sing but was drowned out before the final note of the music by clanging bells and wailing sirens, screaming through the streets. The Great Chicago Fire, which burned for several days, was blazing. In the ashen aftermath, hundreds were dead and over a hundred thousand were homeless. Without a doubt, some who heard Moody’s message had died in the fire. He resolved to never again give an audience another week to think over the message of the gospel. Opportunity knocks if we’re listening.

“LORD, please keep reminding us, as we walk with You today, that the season is here and the opportunity is now.”