As a child, I spent many a Sunday afternoon at my grandparent’s house. Summertime was my favorite for that was when my grandfather’s watermelons were ripe and ready for picking. He’d take us out back and select one from the garden, take it inside, and slice it up for us to eat. They were so sweet and juicy, no grocery store could ever compare.
It seems the propensity for gardening skipped me. I remember my father planting sunflower seeds and they grew the tallest sunflowers in our side yard. My sister has harvested vegetables of all kinds. But I can barely keep a succulent alive. While I’m not much of a gardener, the Bible tells us that we are all sowers. To sow is to scatter seed with the expectation that it will grow into something. If we are all sowers, what is the seed that we scatter?
To answer that question, it’s helpful to look at the book of Hosea, specifically chapter 8. There we see the prophet speak against Israel’s sin and warn them of judgment to come. Those familiar with the book know that Israel is compared to an unfaithful wife. That’s because God’s people rejected his covenant and broke his law (Hosea 8:1). They put on an outward show of piety and worship but their hearts were far from God. They didn’t seek after God, but sought after idols and worshipped them instead: “With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction” (Hosea 8:4) They turned to other kings and other nations for help and rescue and not in the God who made them his own.
God warns them that they will reap what they sow: “For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind” (Hosea 8:8). Or as Calvin wrote, “they shall receive a harvest suitable to the sowing.” Indeed, Israel reaped the whirlwind when they were later conquered and taken into captivity.
C.H. Spurgeon comments on Hosea 8: “We are all sowing; we cannot help it. No one goes forth in the morning without a seed-basket. As we are all sowing, the great question we have to consider is, “What will the harvest be?” It’s helpful to ask ourselves: Are we sowing seeds of faith or of unbelief? Are we sowing seeds of righteousness or unrighteousness? Are we sowing seeds for this world or the world to come? Are we sowing for our glory or for God’s glory? What we sow, that we will reap. The harvest depends on what is sown. Just as we can’t expect green beans to grow if we’ve sown melon seeds, we can’t expect life to grow from seeds of death.
The Apostle Paul put it this way: “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:8 NIV). There is wisdom in thinking through what we are sowing and looking ahead to consider what the potential harvest of that sowing might be. To be aware that we do reap what we sow. That with choices come consequences. But there’s also encouraging news, because when we sow to please the Spirit, we are promised a bountiful harvest. Paul encourages us not to grow weary or give up in our labors: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9). Spurgeon encourages us as well: “If we have believed in Christ and received eternal life by faith in him, and if we are trying to labor for him, we are sowing blessed seed; and if it comes not up today, or tomorrow, yet divine grace ensures a crop that we will gather in one of these days. Therefore, we may be encouraged to labor on. The farmer waits for the precious fruits of the earth through the long and dreary winter, through the checkered days of spring, through March winds and April showers he waits until at last the golden harvest rewards him for all his toil. What we sow, we will also reap. Our Lord has told us so.”
As we begin a new year, it’s helpful to ask ourselves: What am I sowing today? And second: What will the harvest be? May we sow that which brings honor to the One who redeemed us for the harvest he promises will last far into eternity.
Photo by Joshua Lanzarini on Unsplash
