The Law of the Harvest

Every farmer understands the law of the harvest. If you sow a little seed, you’ll have a little harvest. If you sow much seed, you’ll have a bountiful harvest.

By Bryan Clark
Senior Pastor

Now I happen to be a tree lover. I’ve been on a mission to plant trees. I do understand the fact that if in 20 years from now I want lots of trees, right now I have to plant lots of trees. I can’t plant two trees today and expect a forest in 20 years. It simply doesn’t work that way.

God is a very generous God, and He longs to be very generous to His people. We are never more like God than when we give, because God is a giving God. That’s part of His nature. The law of the harvest is simple: If you sow bountifully, you should expect to reap bountifully. That’s clearly what the text says. The harvest is not limited to money but does not exclude money either. Just because the prosperity preachers have abused this principle doesn’t mean we as Christians should fail to take God at His Word.

Giving is something that should be done thoughtfully. It’s something that should be done prayerfully. It’s not something that should be done because of some compulsion or some guilt.

When you give to God, in essence what you’re declaring is: "God, I believe that You are my provider. I believe that You are the one who is sufficient to meet my every need, and this is a very tangible pledge of my faith to You. It’s probably the most tangible response of faith that we make.We’re saying: God, I want You to know I trust You, and I believe You’ll be sufficient for my every need."

If we really believe that’s true, then it creates a joy in our hearts when we give to God, because it’s our pledge of faith, saying: "God, I understand if tomorrow the bottom drops out of my world, You will be sufficient."

If you look at Psalm 112, the psalmist is talking about a righteous man who trusts God, and God pours out His favor upon him.He turns around with the abundance and he helps the poor and the needy. So God gives him more. And he gives away more. What he’s saying here is that when you sow a seed to God, God gives back generously. In other words, what God wants are people who will be a conduit to continue to remain focused, to sow His seed to bring forth His harvest.

The law of the harvest is understanding sowing and reaping, and sowing and reaping for God’s purposes. I know it’s easy for those that don’t have as much money to look at people of means and say: You know, if I had that much money, I’d be generous too. No, you wouldn’t. If you aren’t generous with what you have today, you wouldn’t be generous with more.

I would encourage all of us to give careful consideration to the law of the harvest and then to respond accordingly. To expect a bountiful harvest, we have to be willing to sow bountiful seed.

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