Sowing and Reaping by George A. Irwin

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 27, 1907

Sowing and Reaping

By George A. Irwin

G. A. IRWIN

The wise man has said, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: . . . a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.” Happy will be the men and women who have spiritual discernment at this time to recognize the “season,” and know the “time,” and a will to act, as the Lord would have them.

The work of the husbandman is used in the Bible as a similitude of the work of the Christian. The words plow, sow, harvest, and reap are used very frequently in the Word of God, and to each is given its proper place and time. There can be no proper sowing without the plowing, no harvest without the sowing, and no reaping without the harvest. “The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.” How often we have seen this Scriptural principle verified in the lives of farmers we have known! Behind with their plowing in the spring, behind with their planting and sowing, crops blasted by rust or summer drought, or ruined by early autumn frost; driven from spring to fall, yet nothing done at the proper season or time, and as a result little or nothing at harvest-time as a reward for their labor.

“He that observeth the wind shall not sow.” When the time comes for a thing to be done, we are not to be deterred from doing it by difficulties that may present themselves. One day’s delay because of adverse winds or threatening clouds may put us weeks behind, and lessen our chances for a profitable harvest.

The sowing time is an important time, and we are exhorted not to become weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. We are to begin early to sow, and not slacken our hand when the day declines; for we know not which shall prosper, this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. There is also a blessing promised to those who sow bountifully (2 Cor. 9:6), and also to those who “sow beside all waters.” Isa. 32:20. The Lord does not want us to be narrow or circumscribed in our gifts and offerings which are to be used in purchasing and sowing the seed. The field is the world, and we are to sow beside all waters. The time for sowing will soon be over, and then comes the harvest. O, what shall the harvest be? — Just what we have individually sown. If we have sown bountifully, and at the right time, and in the right spirit, we shall reap bountifully. The harvest comes at the end of the world; but we are not to say, It is a long time yet, and become slack in our preparation for a place and part in it. “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.”

June 29 is the “season” and the “time” for us to finish God’s “purpose” in raising the $150,000 fund. When I call it God’s purpose, I speak advisedly, for he has through his own chosen servant spoken directly in favor of the work and enterprises toward which the larger share of this means is to be appropriated. It is high time that these institutions were finished, and equipped so that they can push forward the work of sowing the precious seeds of truth for which alone they were brought into existence. Not only do we need to finish raising this means for the purpose indicated above, but because now is the time to do it. Other calls and demands will come pressing in upon the heels of this one, and we do not want to get behind as does the slack farmer. A task or duty done on time, gives confidence and courage to perform the next that follows, with equal promptness.

The Lord is marvelously opening up the way for the third angel’s message to go quickly into the regions beyond, and he expects his people to move and act quickly. “Delays tire the angels.” Shall we not, like brave, faithful husbandmen, finish this task this day, and stand ready and waiting to take up the next one that comes with equal determination? We have passed the “time to keep,” and have come to the “time to cast away.” “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” Souls are perishing all over the world for the bread of life; and he who is that bread, and also head of his church on earth, is calling upon us who have partaken of that bread, to send it adrift “upon the face of the waters,” with the assurance that we shall find it after many days.