The concepts of harvest and hope are used throughout Scripture. They would have been very familiar and relatable concepts to those hearing and reading these words when they were originally given.
Let’s unpack harvest first.
“Harvest” in Scripture means severed, reaped, cut down to gather.
It involves both waiting and action.
It’s a process that takes time.
It can be labor-intensive.
It takes faith because there’s no guarantee of harvest from all the planted seeds.
But we are promised that harvest will take place. God’s covenant with Noah reminds us: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22 ESV).
Harvest requires action, but it also requires rest. God’s covenant with the Israelites reminds us: “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest” (Exodus 34:21 ESV).
Because these is “a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted” (Ecclesiastes 3:2b ESV), but we are instructed to enjoy the results of our work: “I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil – this is God’s gift to man” (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 ESV).
What seeds are you sowing now? What are you harvesting now?
Now for Hope.
Hope is a word we throw around a lot. I hope it doesn’t rain today. I hope my car starts. I hope this meeting goes well.
But the use of hope in the Bible has a deeper meaning, grounded in anticipation.
“Hope” in the Old testament (Hebrew) means to wait, to be patient.
“Hope” in the New Testament (Greek) means to have favorable and confident expectation, a forward look with assurance,
Scripture is all about hope: hope for redemption, hope for restoration, and hope for salvation.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23 ESV)
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV)
Scripture tells us we’re not to give up hope. In the book of Isaiah the people of Judah were moving away from God’s promises toward pagan practices. Yet God gives hope for sinners through the coming Messiah, a Savior (Isaiah 7:14; 9:1-7). Later Zephaniah foretells the restoration of Israel and the message to God’s people not to give up hope (Zephaniah 3:17).
What are you hoping for now? Do you have hope for big things because we have a big God?
Wait
Both harvest and hope require waiting.
And hope lifts our eyes while we wait.
“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is in him” (Psalm 62:5 ESV).
“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope” (Psalm 130:5 ESV).
“I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him” (Isaiah 8:17 ESV).
For harvest to happen we have to wait for seeds to grow. We may even have to wait to plant the seeds. We may be waiting for a really long time. . . and hope keeps us trusting and believing.
But God may not use us to harvest to seeds we help plant. I think of people who come in and out of my life, and I don’t know what happens to the seeds I tried to plant. However, I still pray for them. . . because I have hope (and praying helps when I don’t know what else to do!).
As we wait we hope in God’s timing, because God has a perfect plan.
In the book of Ruth we read about Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth who move back to Bethlehem after famine and the deaths of the men in their family. They need to find a way to provide for themselves (which as two women in Biblical times was no easy feat).
But God’s timing is perfect, and He brought them back to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. This meant that Ruth was allowed to glean extra wheat from fields as they were harvested, therefore providing food for her family. But there’s more: Ruth gleaned in a field belonging to Boaz. They meet, they get married, and they have a son.
Don’t miss this: Ruth and Naomi move back to Bethlehem. Here’s what the Old Testament says about Bethlehem: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days (Micah 5:2 ESV). That’s Jesus!
And there’s more. Their son was named Obed, and they are listed in the lineage of Christ in the New Testament: “and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king (Matthew 1:5 ESV).
How cool is that!?
What are you waiting for right now? What should you be hoping for right now, but you aren’t? What seeds are you waiting to harvest?
Part 2 coming next week.
