THE GIVING HAND IS ALWAYS THE RECEIVING HAND – GOD WANTS US TO SEE THROUGH SPIRITUAL EYES. WHAT A FARMER PLANTS SEEMS TO DISAPPEAR FOR A TIME, BUT OH, WHAT A HARVEST WHEN IT COMES BACK TO HIM! GOD HAS AN ENDLESS SUPPLY!
The power and reality of this principle is not just of this world, but also beyond it. What I sow as a farmer is what I reap. If I sow corn, I expect to reap corn. If I sow grapes I should not expect to reap wheat. If I sow a great number of seeds, I expect to reap an abundant harvest. If I sow a small number of seeds, I should not expect to reap a great harvest. My expectation should be based on what I have planted. Given that it is good soil, the ground will be true to me and yield what I planted. This earthly truth reflects on an even greater spiritual truth. What we sow spiritually is what we should expect. This is how Scripture states this truth:
Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:7-9).
You can never pray, never read your Word, never give, never love and never worship and yet, expect some kind of spiritual harvest. However, if you do these things you can expect a hundred-fold return, both spiritually and naturally. If we devote our life to sowing a natural harvest only, know that it has no lasting features. Good times don't last forever. After awhile you'll begin to ask yourself if all this is worth it. In the midst of all the noise there will be a Voice telling you there is better soil – soil that produces things everlasting. When I sow into spiritual soil, the promise of eternal things is to me. Don't quit. What you’ve planted is life and it is life everlasting. It will not corrupt.
The Bible begins by establishing the truth of sowing and reaping as the "means of operation" for man's existence. Hard labor was not our destiny. We condemned ourselves to working by the sweat of our brow. Our harvest was to automatically set up the next harvest. Our survival was to flow by just walking in the light and fellowship of the Voice of God. Adam and Eve, before their fall from grace, walked and communed with this Voice. They were in Paradise and knew it. In Genesis 1 we find God creating the heavens and the earth. Then we are informed that something catastrophic probably happened for the earth was without form and void. God uses catastrophes for His glory. Just because we do not understand or know the end, does not take away from what He is doing. Later in the Chapter when God is giving man his instructions, He tells man to replenish the earth. ( Verse. 28 ). Replenish mean to make full or complete again. In other words, this is the second time around.
The first three days of God's creative process were the creation of the heavenly or that that is spiritual. The second three days of creation were earthly or that that is carnal and temporal. The first day He created light but light was not first. Darkness was first. Before you can expect revelation in your life there will be darkness. Darkness is the backdrop that God uses to let light shine. Light will never have its full glory if there is no darkness. However, when light comes, darkness must back up and become the backdrop. When revelation comes, ignorance must vanish.
The first day started with darkness but then came light. In our lives, every new period will start with darkness but then comes light; ignorance is there, but then comes revelation; tribulation is felt, but then comes deliverance; sickness shows its ugly face, but then comes healing; being void of understanding, but then comes knowledge. Expect the light to come. Get excited about the day when you will open God's Word and you no longer need a commentary to get the meaning of what is being said. The voices will be gone and you can clearly hear the Voice of God walking in your heart, bringing light to those things that have kept you in the dark.
Note how the first day ends. The evening (darkness, ignorance) and the morning (light, revelation) were the first day. You move from darkness to light. When a new cycle begins in your life, it will begin with darkness. But get excited. God is going to get the glory out of this cycle just like he did with the past cycles of your life. There will be light. Your trial and tribulation will end in victory!
