LAWS OF THE HARVEST

GENESIS 8:22

      From the beginning God set in motion certain laws or principles, irreversible in God’s order. God set the outcome of spiritual laws to be just as constant as natural laws, without exception.

  I. Reap what you sow (negatively, positively; Gen. 1:11-12; Mt. 5:7; Gal. 5:17, 22-23)

Job 4:8 [ESV]. As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.

Prov. 22:8 [HCSB]. The one who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

Hos. 10:13a [NIV]. But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception.

Mt. 7:17-18 [NIV]. Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

Mt. 12:33 [NIV]. Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.

Gal. 6:7-8 [NIV]. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

Jas. 3:18 [NIV]. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

      Rex Humbart said, “Some people sow wild oats during the week and then slip into church on Sunday to pray for a crop failure.”

      Cloud and Townsend observed, “When God tells us that we will reap what we sow, he is not punishing us; He’s telling us how things really are. If you smoke cigarettes, you most likely will develop a smoker’s hack, and you may even get lung cancer. If you overspend, you most likely will get calls from creditors, and you may even go hungry because you have no money for food. On the other hand, if you eat right and exercise regularly, you may suffer from fewer colds and bouts with the flu. If you budget wisely, you will have money for the bill collectors and for the grocery store. (Henry Cloud and John Townsend, Boundaries, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992)

•          Sow love, reap kindness.

•          Sow family time, reap happiness.

•          Sow discord, reap bitterness.

•          Sow the Word, reap the lost.

•          Sow compromise, reap consequences.

•          Sow immorality, reap dishonor.

•          Sow unrighteousness, reap decay.

•          Sow wind, reap whirlwind.

•          Sow thought, reap deed.

•          Sow prayer, reap power.

•          Sow rejection of Christ, reap eternal hell.

      In The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis wrote, “We continue to clamor for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. . . . We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.”

      Sir Robert Watson Watt, the inventor of the radar, was arrested for once speeding. Shortly afterward, Watt wrote this poem:

Pity Sir Robert Watson Watt
Strange target of his radar plot,
And this, with others I could mention,
A victim of his own invention.

 II. Reap more than you sow (moderation, excess; Ex. 20:5; Mt. 13:23)

Hos. 8:7a [NIV]. They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.

Hos. 10:12 [MKJV]. Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground. For it is time to seek Jehovah, until He comes and rains righteousness on you.

      Paul Laurence Dunbar said,

“This is the debt I pay

Just for one riotous day

Years of regret and grief

Sorrow without relief!”

2 Sam. 12:12 [NIV]. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.

III. Reap how you sow (sparingly, bountifully)

Ps. 126:6 [NIV]. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

Prov. 10:5 [NIV]. He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

Jn. 4:35 [GNB]. You have a saying, ‘Four more months and then the harvest.’ But I tell you, take a good look at the fields; the crops are now ripe and ready to be harvested!

2 Cor. 9:6 [NIV]. Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

      Years ago, Chinese farmers thought they could eat the big potatoes and keep the small potatoes for seed. Consequently, they ate the big potatoes and planted the small potatoes. As a result of this practice, the Chinese farmers discovered that nature reduced all the potatoes to the size of marbles. The farmers learned through bitter experience that they could not keep the best for themselves and use the leftovers for seed. The kind of harvest resulted from the kind of planting.

 IV. Reap after you sow (seedtime, harvest)

Gal. 6:9 [GNB]. So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest.

  V. Reap with those who sow (laborers, co-laborers)

Lk. 10:2 [NIV]. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Jn. 4:36-37 [HCSB]. The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so the sower and reaper can rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true: “One sows and another reaps.”

 VI. Reap when you sow (diligently, slothfully)

Prov. 6:8 [HCSB]. It prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest.

Prov. 20:4 [MSG]. A farmer too lazy to plant in the spring has nothing to harvest in the fall.

Ecc. 11:4 [GNB]. If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything.

VII. Reap where you sow (Spirit, flesh; Jer. 4:3)

Ps. 1:3 [NIV]. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Mt. 13:19 [NIV]. When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.

VIII. Reap if God blesses the seed you sow (Owner of the vineyard, Lord of the harvest)

Dt. 28:38 [NIV]. You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it.

Is. 55:10-11 [MKJV]. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from the heavens, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring out and bud, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall My Word be, which goes out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall certainly do what I sent it to do.

Hag. 1:6 [ESV]. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

Mal. 3:11 [ESV]. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts.

Mt. 9:38 [NIV]. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.

Jn. 15:5 [GNB]. I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.

1 Cor. 3:6 [NIV]. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

2 Cor. 9:10 [CEV]. God gives seed to farmers and provides everyone with food. He will increase what you have, so that you can give even more to those in need.