SEPTEMBER 11
Joy before harvest
"They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest." ISAIAH 9:3
THEY joy before him ACCORDING TO THE JOY IN HARVEST. And what is this joy?
It is a joy connected with exertion. Reaping is no easy thing. But this is not all that is required. There is manuring and ploughing and sowing and harrowing and weeding. All these are previously necessary to the joy of harvest. The husbandman does not eat the bread or idleness. His labor fills his hands. Every season has demands upon him, and the end of one work is the beginning of another. Indeed, nothing valuable is to be obtained without diligence and difficulty; yea, it would not be valuable or prized if it were acquired priceless and painless. And are not we to exercise ourselves unto godliness? And is it nothing to worship God in spirit and in truth; and to watch in all things; and to pray without ceasing; and to keep the heart with an diligence? "But the grace of God does all this for us." It does. It is equally true, that it does all this by us too. God does not believe and repent, but enables us to believe and repent. We run the race that is set before us, we fight the good fight of faith, though in him is all our help found.
This Joy requires patience. The husbandman soweth in hope, but e accomplishment of his hope is future. Weeks and months, and many dreary weeks and months, intervene before his wishes can be fulfilled. Though he is not foolish enough to suppose that he has labored in vail because he cannot reap as soon as he has sown; or childishly eager enougth to cut own the grain green to hasten the harvest. But what does he? "The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and later rain. And so Abraham, after he had patiently endured, received the promise. Christians are also are required to wait. And let them remember that In due time they shall reap, if they faint not. And they have not long to wait. Their salvation is nearer than when he believed. Yet a few more rising and descending suns, and it shall be said, "Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe." In the mean time the process is hourly advancing to maturity, and the end shall prove that every thing is most beautiful and most profitable in its season. "it is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord."
This joy is not free from anxieties. When the seed is first throw into the ground, it seems lost; and when it revives from a kind of death and springs up, it has to encounter the frosts of winter, the changings and blights of spring, the lengthened dryness or wetness of summer. And. when the period is arrived for securing the precious treasure: solicitude is more alive and alert. The husbandman often rises and looks at the sky. Ten times in the day he examines the glass. He goes about with a heavy heart, and a depressed countenance, and often forebodes the worst; and it is not till he has safely housed the whole that he can give up himself to satisfaction and delight. But how will this apply to Christians? Is there any thing precarious in the purpose and promise of God? No; but it is otherwise with their apprehensions. Their eternal prospects awaken all their concern, and they have a thousand doubts and fears concerning their safety and success. Am I an heir of heaven? Is this repentance towards God? Is this faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ? Can these wandering thoughts and imperfect desires be prayer? What if after all I should fail of the grace of God, and come short of the glory to be revealed!
But this joy is great. When the harvest is come, every face betrays pleasure. The very toil seems delight. They that pass by say, "We bless you in the name of the Lord." "He that soweth, and he that reapeth, now rejoice together." Pennant tells us, in his Travels, that in parts of Scotland he sometimes saw large numbers reaping to the sound of a musician behind them, playing on the bagpipe; and thus enlivening the scene, and softening the work. And David says, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy;" or as it is in the margin, reap singing. And he adds, "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." And who has not heard the shoutings of the rustics, as the last loaded wain returned from the field, covered with green boughs? And who has not witnessed the rude mirth of harvest-home? But if "the poor laborers sing," think of the owner. Now his anxieties are dispelled; now his patience is rewarded. Now his exertion and expense are abundantly repaid; his garner is full, affording all manner of store; and he hails, in his possession, the means of indulgence, improvement, and wealth. Yet what is this joy compared with the Christian's? The one is for the body, the other for the soul, One is for time, the other is for eternity. One is common to the wicked and the righteous; the other is peculiar to the subjects of divine grace. The one may gender intemperance and sin; the other sanctifies while it contents.
Let me learn, then, to improve the works or creation to pious purposes, and make nature a handmaid to grace.
And let me be thankful for the harvest with which we have so recently been favored. He has again "prepared of his goodness for the poor" All, indeed, are concerned. "The king is served by the the labor of the field." But kings have many ways of living that poor people have not. We do not think of palaces or mansions, so much as of the dwellings of the poor, when we view the waving fields. He has not only given us plenty, but afforded us the appointed weeks of harvest.
"Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness."
Yet, man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Let me therefore labor not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life. All spiritual blessings in heavenly places are provided and presented. Yet the season for securing them is limited, short, and uncertain. Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. And how many, in consequence or neglect, have exclaimed, at a dying hour, THE HARVEST IS PAST, THE SUMMER IS ENDED, AND WE ARE NOT SAVED!