The harvest is plentiful, the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers.
Have you ever felt under the pressure of your workload and the mountain of volunteers that you need to find? What do you do in that situation? I honestly, and shamefully must admit that at times I didn’t pray and ask God for His help and His leading. Often, I have taken on this task of recruiting apart from Jesus, not stopping to pray to the Lord of the harvest. My question to you is, are you praying and asking God for more volunteers or recruiting on your own?
In Matthew 9, Jesus approaches his disciples and says, “Look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest”. He says to ask the Lord of the harvest, the boss of this field, to send out workers to help with this harvest. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into his field.” Understand that as soon as that phrase was uttered, we enter a new chapter. Not only do we enter into chapter 10 in the book of Matthew, but we actually enter into a brand-new chapter in the life and ministry of Jesus. As soon as He said that phrase, asking His followers to pray to the Lord of the harvest, Jesus did the very thing that He had asked others to do. The Bible says in Matthew 10:1 that Jesus went away to a solitary place and prayed all night long. He asked God which individuals of the 120 followers that He should choose to be His exclusive 12 disciples.
The Bible says that Jesus came down off of the mountain and chose the 12. I want you to understand that Jesus went to the mountain and specifically prayed to God the Father to raise up the right 12. He was praying for the men that would carry out and carry on the work after His crucifixion and resurrection. After that prayer, Jesus chose the 12.
I will ask you again. Are you praying and asking God for more volunteers or recruiting on your own? We should not only follow Jesus’ instruction, but we should also follow His example. You see, it’s His field. Jesus cares about it far more than I do. So, shouldn’t I ask Him to help find the right people and enlist them to bring about a wonderful and beautiful harvest?
Remember that God does not shame you when you ask. He is pleased when you do! Are you asking for more laborers? Jesus has told us that this is what we should do. He Himself went up to a mountain and spent the entire night beseeching God for wisdom for whom He should pick. How much more should we?
Truly, have you prayed today for God to raise up workers for the harvest? The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest. There is no reason that you should take on this burden alone. Ask the Lord of the harvest.
