Amazing Grace
Matthias Claudius, 1740–1815
Translated by Jane M. Campbell, 1817–1878
Yet He has not left Himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy. (Acts 14:17)
The Scriptures have many important lessons to teach us about harvests. One of these lessons is that there is always a waiting time between the planting of the seed and the gathering of the fruit or grain. This is true in spiritual matters as well. God often has to give us a waiting period for the full bloom of the Spirit’s fruit to be produced in our lives. The lesson of patience must be learned when sharing God’s love with others.
We can also learn from the harvest that a planted seed must first die before it can spring forth in new life. The way to personal spiritual fruitfulness is first death to self-centeredness (Matthew 10:30). Another truth is that a bountiful harvest is directly proportionate to the amount of sowing that has been done. “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Corinthians 9:6). And finally, harvesting is a cooperative affair. We may spread the seeds of the gospel and cultivate and water the spiritual soil in an individual’s life, but ultimately it is God who gives the harvest (1 Corinthians 3:6, 9).
“We Plow the Fields, and Scatter” first appeared in Germany in 1782 and was known as “The Peasants’ Song.” It was part of a dramatic sketch portraying a harvest festival in a farm home in northern Germany. It first appeared in England in 1861. We plow the fields, and scatter the good seed on the land, but it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand; He sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain, the breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain. We thank Thee, then, O Father, for all things bright and good, the seed-time and the harvest, our life, our health, our food; no gifts have we to offer, for all Thy love imparts, but that which Thou desirest, our humble, thankful hearts.
Chorus: All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above; then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all His love.
For Today: Genesis 1:11–18; 2:4, 5; Psalm 57:9–11; Isaiah 55:10, 11; Hebrews 11:3; James 1:17
“But that which Thou desirest, our humble, thankful hearts.” Is there a spiritual harvest in my life? Am I contributing to a harvest time in the lives of others? Reflect on this musical truth as you go—
K. W. Osbeck
- And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. and the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. and the evening and the morning were the third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for season, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:11–18
- These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. Genesis 2:4-5
- I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth. Psalm 57:9-11
- For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from the heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11
- Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Hebrews 11:3
- Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17
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