The Harvest of Obedience and Disobedience
By W. S. Sadler
THE MISSION OF PAIN AND THE LANGUAGE OF DISEASE. NO. 3.
The Harvest of Obedience and Disobedience.
"Come and let us return unto the Lord; for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up." Hosea 6:1. HEALTH is the harvest of obedience; disease is the harvest of disobedience. The harvest of health is secured by sowing the seeds of health, and subsequently cultivating the crop. The harvest of disease is secured in the same manner, only that the seed sown is that of disease instead of health. The harvest of disobedience is avoided only by obedience. Health is God at work in man under conditions of obedience, while disease is the same God at work under conditions of disobedience. Whether the individual reaps a harvest of obedience—health, or the consequences of disobedience—disease, God is doing the very best he can for him in view of the seed he has sown. God's own word is pledged that what a man sows, that must he also reap; and, as we have seen, the part that Satan acts in producing disease is tempting man to transgress, and thus sow the thorns and thistles of ill-health. The sunshine and the dew cause the thorns and thistles to grow, just as truly as they cause the roses and lilies to flourish. Either may grow in the same soil; the difference in the harvest consists wholly in the seed that was sown. We are wounded when we go astray; God binds us up when we return. There is sickness and suffering in disobedience, and there is health and happiness in obedience. We must sow if we would reap, and our reaping will always be in accordance with our sowing. It is very true that there are many cases of suffering to be observed in this sinful world, the cause of which the human eye is unable to detect. But as far as we are able to discern the divine plan, we find it is based upon the law of sowing and reaping; and this being true, we have no reason to question but that even those things which we fail to comprehend are likewise regulated by the same just law. It is one of the deceptive delusions of the devil that man may in some way sow the seeds of transgression, and yet avoid reaping the harvest of physical and spiritual disease; or that he may persistently sow for disease, and reap the beneficent harvest of health. The hand of God is at work throughout all nature and in all the realm of human experience, seeking to show man the folly of all teaching which promises a reaping without a sowing, or a harvest in any way different from that for which the individual has sown. And it must have been that God foresaw that the world would be filled with such delusive teachings concerning this law of cause and effect, when He inspired the writing of these emphatic words: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Gal. 6:7. In His infinite mercy God has arranged that the penalty of wrong doing shall have a tendency to correct the wrong-doer and lead him back to the good way from which he strayed. So the Lord, having torn us when we went astray, stands ready to bind us up as soon as we seek to return. In speaking of the perversity of Israel that necessitated their going into bondage for correction, the Lord says, "They have turned their back unto Me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us." Jer. 2:27. Trouble has many times been the means of leading the spiritual or physical backslider to seek repentance and reinstatement in divine favor. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Rom. 10:13. And if affliction can accomplish the work of leading us to call upon God for help when all things else have failed to produce repentance, it can not be regarded as altogether unfruitful. The harvest of death is sure to follow transgression; but the harvest of life, the gift of God through the seed sowing of faith and obedience, is sufficient to swallow up the harvest of death. Then we can sing, "Death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Cor. 15:54.