The Harvest Is Past

Daily Reading: Jeremiah 8

Scripture Focus: The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. (Jeremiah 8.20)

Devotional Thought: Since I moved to South Carolina, I have had to adjust my thinking about the calendar.  In Ohio, I grew accustomed to tomatoes ripening in late July and August and then lasting until first frost in mid-October.  Here on John's Island, however, it's a bit different.  We picked tomatoes at a "U-Pick" farm beginning in June.  The tomatoes were wonderful, but they didn't last long.  By mid-summer, the harvest was past.  I was sad to see that.

Jeremiah's heart was broken over a harvest that had passed, too.  He observed...

·       The harvest is past.  Missing the harvest would be devastating in ancient Israel.  Even more important than an agricultural harvest, however, there is a harvest of souls.  Jesus spoke of the harvest at the end of the age when "The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace" (Matthew 13.41-42).  Revelation describes the winepress of God's wrath at the end of the age when "the harvest of the earth is fully ripe" (Revelation 14.15).

·       The summer is ended.  In just a slight twist, Jeremiah makes the point that there is not only a harvest, but there are also seasons.  Summer was the season to reap.  But, the other seasons were important, too.  Spring was important for sowing, fall for storing and preparing, and winter for resting.  We must take advantage of the seasons of life.

·       We are not saved.  In the final analysis, what really matters?  Are we saved or not?  If we are not, then all the world's goods and pleasures will leave us empty and hopeless.

Prayer: Lord, I thank you for this reminder of the harvest and of the seasons of preparing for the harvest.  In your mercy, help me and those I love to be ready, to be saved.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 106.40-43

40 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he abhorred his heritage;

41 he gave them into the hand of the nations, so that those who hated them ruled over them.

42 Their enemies oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their power.

43 Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes and were brought low through their iniquity.