Praying for Laborers for the Harvest

This special meditation has been prepared by PRC home missionary, Rev. Aud Spriensma.

Praying for Laborers for the Harvest

Meditation on Luke 10:2

Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

As you drive through the countryside, have you taken notice of the fields on the farms? In springtime, we saw the planting, during the summer the growth of the crops, and now the harvesting. How abundant are the crops! The warm sunshine and the timely rains have been given by God, so that the corn, wheat, alfalfa, and soybeans are luxurious! The wheat has been harvested, the hay is getting baled up, and soon the corn and soybeans also will also be harvested. One thinks of the harvest song in Psalm 65.

But in Psalm 65, the spiritual blessings of God are mentioned first. They are more blessed and worthy of God’s praise. We are chosen by God in eternity, redeemed by Jesus Christ’s blood, and indwelt by his Spirit so that we approach and dwell in his courts. And we are indeed satisfied!

Because God has chosen for Himself a people in Jesus Christ, that people must be gathered from the nations. God does that through the preaching of the Word. Ministers bring the Word of God to their congregations each Sabbath day. Missionaries are sent out by the churches as were the apostle Paul and Barnabas, and later, Paul and Silas, and Barnabas and John Mark. As Jesus had prayed in John 17: 18, “As thou hast has sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.”

Do you have eyes to see and a heart that believes what Jesus says in Luke 10: 2? It is a harvest that is truly great. In Matt. 9:37, we read, “The harvest truly is plenteous.” John 4:35ff makes it more urgent. “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labours.”

“The fields are white unto harvest.” This means that it is time! The time is until the Lord Jesus returns. He comes quickly! Let us labor. Let us pray the Lord Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, for men to become preachers and missionaries. Let us also pray that as men, women, and children who love the Lord, we gladly witness for him and his kingdom! Oh, like the fields of corn and wheat, some years are much more plenteous and abundant than other. So also, in the history of missions, there are times when the fruit is more bountiful in one place over another. But the outcome of our sowing and reaping is not what we fix out eyes on. The Lord will give the increase in His own time and way. Ours is to labor for the Master.

Why do missions? Let me give five reasons:

1. Because God our Father is a glorious God whose fame must be spread abroad.

2. Because Jesus Christ has sent his church into the world, and we must be obedient.

3. Because we love our neighbors, and desire that they too may know and believe in Christ.

4. In love for the church, we desire to see those outside the church brought in. The church is greatly enriched by the zeal and joy of new believers. Otherwise the church will languish as it turns inward.

5. Jesus Christ has promised to come quickly. But He will not come until every elect saint has been born and has been saved. So let us labor! The field is great and abundant, white unto harvest.

“Far and near the fields are teeming with the waves of ripened grain; Far and near their gold is gleaming o’er the sunny slope and plain. Lord of harvest, send forth reapers! Hear us Lord, to Thee we cry. Send them now the sheaves to gather, ere the harvest time pass by.”

“Send them forth with morn’s first beaming, send them in the noontides glare; when the sun’s last rays are gleaming, bid them gather everywhere. Lord of harvest, send forth reapers! Hear us, Lord, to Thee we cry; Send them now the sheaves to gather, ere the harvest time pass by.”  ~ B. O. Clemm, 19^th century

“Let us labor for the Master from the dawn to setting sun, Let us talk of all his wondrous love and care; Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done and the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.”  ~ James Black