“He who gathers in summer is a wise son;
He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.” PR 10:5
No matter what season we are in, our goal is to stay fervent, passionate, and on fire.
Both sets of grandparents were farmers. Our friends were farmers. I worked on farms, and played in my cousins’ barns. I remember collecting maple syrup using horses with drawn sleighs as a young boy. The farming culture is a busy one. You rise early, and you work hard.
Maybe that’s why I am drawn to scriptures that use agricultural illustrations. Because I remember the intensity and urgency of the harvest season, I cannot imagine a scene where one among us would be caught sleeping while everyone else is so completely engrossed in bringing in the sheaves.
PR 10:4-5 are a couplet contrasting diligence with laziness. “The hand of the diligent makes rich” is completed by the idea of gathering in summer, the time during the agriculture cycle when it is easy to kick back and lose focus. A diligent person knows the importance of preserving a sense of urgency, and of keeping one’s eye on the goal, and the danger of distractions. He knows to stay busy during the hot and long days of summer where its easy to find an excuse to kick back.
Having lived and served with our precious brothers and sisters from the House Churches in China I have been privileged to witness a generation of believers who are as passionate about the harvest of souls around them now as they were when I first knew them, which for some has been for more than 20 years. I have asked God to give me coals from their altars to make me burn, and then help you to burn too. In fact, why don’t you take a moment to just ask the Lord to touch you with that coal right now. Lord, set me on fire, restore a passion in me for the harvest. Help me to be a wise son!
And help me NOT to be a son that causes shame. While not every field of the world is equally harvestable, much depends on our ability to lift up our eyes and see that the harvest is ripe, and not in the field itself. Jesus’ disciples did not SEE the harvest. Jesus did. This reminder itself should help to be careful. Am I guilty of blaming the harvest in my neighborhood, in my culture, among my colleagues, for not being ripe like those other fields? Beloved, there may well be a harvest out there that you are not seeing! Let’s not be caught sleeping.