Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: July 3rd

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. - John 4:35.

AFTER expressing his own regard to the work given him to do, our Saviour stimulates his disciples to similar zeal. For this purpose he employs several arguments borrowed from husbandry, The first is taken from the necessity for exertion. When the grain is ripe the sickle must be thrust in. The crop must be gathered in. The season is short, and every other concern is expected to give place to the reapers’ toil. Now, so it is here. You say, said our Lord to his disciples, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest; and you say well, for so it is. But with regard to the spiritual harvest, the harvest of souls, this is now arrived:-“Look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest;” that is, they were to consider the disposition of the people who are now within view. This teaches us that when the attention of the people is awakened, and numbers press to hear, it is a favourable opening, which should excite and encourage diligent and prayerful efforts.

The second is taken from the profitableness of their exertion. “He that reapeth receiveth wages.” Thus Christians are taught that their “labour is not in vain in the Lord; and that their work is important, for as the result of their labouring for the everlasting salvation of precious souls, they gather fruit unto life eternal.” And accordingly the husbandman, and those who had been employed by him in preparing the soil and in securing the produce, partook of the entertainment provided at the end of the harvest; so here with regard to the Lord’s servants engaged in carrying on the varied processes of their spiritual husbandry, however varied their capacities, offices, and influences, “he that soweth and he that reapeth will rejoice together.”

Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men. - Psalms 31:19.

THE exclamation is well founded. David speaks of the grounds of God’s goodness, and in order to impress his memory more, he speaks of it under the distinction of future and present, performed and promised, concealed and displayed. How great is the goodness which is laid up for them who fear and trust the Lord. This, indeed, is the principal part; this surpasses all representation and conception too. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

Eternity will be given us to develop the glory that shall be revealed; and yet “how great is the goodness he has wrought for them.” Though they have more in reversion, they have much in possession; though they have more in hope, they have much in hand. It is said the Jews did eat angels’ food, because the manna on which they fed was not produced by human instrumentality, but created immediately in the clouds, and sent down from heaven, but-

“Never did angels taste above

Redeeming grace and dying love.”

Oh how great is his goodness! Jesus, the elder brother of the family, is ours; all creation is ours; redemption is all our own. And in our redemption by an infinite price, in our justification by a righteousness wrought out and brought in, a righteousness which is of God, in the renovation of our souls by the operation of almighty grace, in our guidance through all the intricacies of the wilderness, and in the gracious provision for our daily wants by a peculiar providence-oh! what rewards will those that fear him hereafter find! oh, what exquisite delight will belong to them, and them only! As yet, it is not day with them, but it is the dawn; and the one will infallibly bring on the other. As yet the good work is not finished in them, but it is begun. An infinite good is being wrought out in them as well as for them; and “we are confident,” says the Apostle, “of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”