Lord of the Harvest

I took a break from Acts this morning, flipping instead to Matthew 13. 

I've said before and I'll underline here again: I do not sense the Lord leading me to pray for comfort or a return to what the church was in the past or what the church was before March 13, 2020 when schools shut down in response to the corona virus pandemic. I admit, I've tried to pray that way a little bit, because no one likes discomfort. But the few times I've made an effort to say: "Lord, ease up a bit," the words stick in my throat, and my spirit throws a hissyfit. I don't think God wants us to go back to where we were. Every time I think that way, He reminds me of Lot's wife. Don't look back, don't long for what you had.

Jesus was telling parable after parable in Matthew 13. The most common parable in this chapter is the one of the good sower and the different types of soil, but the one after that especially planted in my mind this morning (heh, do you see what I did there?) was the parable of the weeds - where the sower went out and planted his crop. During the night, the enemy came and sowed a whole lot of weeds and went away. When the plants began to come up, the weeds grew right along with them, so the sower and the workers had a little conference (my paraphrase). "What do we do? Should we go ahead and pull up the weeds?" asked the workers. "Nope," said the sower, "'cause if you do, it's gonna weaken the wheat and loosen up the soil around their roots too much. Just leave them there, and when it's time for the harvest, then we'll bundle up the weeds and throw them into the fire, and the good harvest, we'll bring into the barn."

I know Jesus used agriculture a lot to make a point - He spent a good bit of time around farmers, and agriculture was more "front line" than it is today with tech and execs and the system of economy we've got in our country - but it's still an easy point for me to grasp, even with my own brown thumb.

Anyway, here are three points that came to mind while I was thinking about this:

1.) the root systems of the plants and the weeds, in close proximity like that, would be intertwined and difficult to separate. So I see what Jesus meant about weakening the plants by uprooting the weeds.

2.) I'm no expert gardener, but I do know that weeds tend to suck the nutrients out of the soil and away from the plants. And...

3.) There are different types of plants, some hardy, some not so much. So my dainty lettuce patch may not do as well in a weed-infested area as, say, my pumpkin patch.  

Translating all this into a context for the church:

1.) We have got to pray that our focus stays on the Lord and that distractions do not turn our attention off of Him, and there are some really big distractions right now.

2.) We are sanctified and we are gathered before the throne of grace, but we are still caught up in a sinful world, and it's important to continue to pray for each other, while not getting dragged down by sin itself.

3.) Finally, each of us has our gifts, and some of those gifts are more susceptible to the devil's plans and pitfalls than others, so we have got to pray for protection.

As I was praying, in my mind's eye, I saw an earthquake, a huge flat expanse where Christians were standing, and when the earth began to shake, we all hit the ground, because we were just... helpless. I don't know if you've ever experienced an earthquake. If you have, you understand what I mean when I say there's absolutely nothing you can do. You feel like the most insignificant specimen, because it's so much bigger than anything to which you can cling. 

My perspective dipped below the expanse of ground where we were all sprawled, and underneath it, I could see a center point, a fulcrum. The whole expanse was centered on this fulcrum, and the ground tipped and tottered and shook, but it couldn't fall because the fulcrum was steady and unmovable and a solid rock, and even though it seemed to those of us on top of the ground that we were helpless and everything was shaking, beneath us, there was that steady balance that kept anything from falling apart.

I kept praying, and next, I saw our nation. At the borders, a black shadow began encroaching over the land, and I looked into the sky and realized that the shadow was cast by what looked like locusts, so thick and wide, it was actually a cloud. I couldn't see the edges of the cloud, it was so enormous.

Behind me, on the other side, the light increased, and I turned around and saw what looked like the sun coming, it was so bright, but as my eyes adjusted, I saw angels, and their swords were out.

Church, we know we are in a pitched battle - Ephesians 6 confirms it for us - and that battle is going to get more intense before it eases. To me, this image illustrated that the battle we've been fighting is peanuts before that one that is coming. I believe the Lord was reminding me of how important it is to be equipped with our spiritual armor fastened tightly, to be effective on our knees, to pray.

Pray that no weapon formed against us will stand.
Pray that the word spoken by the Lord will divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow.
Pray that the church will be stripped free of sin and corruption and that we will be "clothed in white," a bride ready to meet her groom.
Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send workers into the harvest field, because the Lord will shut the door. 

There's no room for mediocrity. Pray for refinement and revival and spiritual awakening.

All the things that I have been praying up until now seemed to culminate in this image of the locusts (which I believe were the "rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12)) and the angels, and the Lord moved me to take my stand, plant my feet, endure the rocking, tilting craziness, hold nothing back, and to pray, to lift up my hands up like Moses did while the Israelites fought (Exodus 17:12), and even if I grow tired and my tongue and my mind want to rest, to continue to pray, and the Lord will send an Aaron and a Hur to hold me up.

I'm praying that God will order our lives so much that we will each be uniquely positioned for battle, strong, prepared, our armor in place, our bows at full draw. Ready.