The Days Are Coming

Daily Reading: Amos 9

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. (Amos 9.13-14)

Devotional Thought: My friend told me about his uncle: "He bought a ranch in Oklahoma.  He invested a lot of money in the land, the equipment, the seed and the fertilizer.  He worked day and night, month after month.  The first year, hail and wind knocked his crop over.  The second year the bugs got it.  The third year there was a drought.  The fourth year, my uncle sold the farm, the house, and the equipment and went to work in a factory."  My friend went on to say, "It wasn't the hard work that got him.  It was the lack of harvest."

Have you ever been there?  When, like Peter and the other fishermen, you've "toiled all night and haven't caught anything"?  It's discouraging.  It saps your energy.  It makes you want to give up.  I know the sharp pains of "no harvest", even in the church.  That's why I love this passage in Amos.  "The days are coming" when the harvest will be so plentiful that it will be the next planting season before you can get it all in! 

God sees your work, dear friend.  Do not give up.  "The days are coming" when you will reap a reward if you faint not.  And then?  "What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, and I look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace.  When He takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land.  What a day, glorious day that will be!" (Ben Speer)

Prayer: O Jesus, Lord of the Harvest, send me forth into your fields and reap a harvest through me, I pray.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 103.1-5

1 Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.