Friday February 10, 2023
Mark 4:29
“But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle,
because the harvest has come.”
One of the secrets of all growth is that its ultimate objective is the ripening of the fruit. Indeed, from life’s first beginnings, everything is directed toward the maturing of the fruit.
This solves many of life’s riddles. We all have experiences that we cannot begin to understand. And none of our experiences are so difficult as those whose meaning we are not able to fathom.
But if we can see them in the light of the ripening and the harvest, then we can grasp their meaning. He who has all power in heaven and on earth, He who guides our little lives, He directs all things toward the ripening of the fruit.
He who is the Lord of the harvest waits for the harvest, when He can gather the fruit of the field into His barns. With this in mind He sends the things that are necessary to further the ripening. Do not become frightened, therefore, if the weather shifts and you have rain, sunshine, wind, warmth, lightning and thunder. It all hastens the ripening. You are no doubt acquainted with what is known as “com weather.” The air is laden with electricity; it is sultry and hot, making breathing difficult by night as well as by day. The com, however, thrives in such weather.
Prosperity and adversity, sorrow and joy, illness and health, honor and dishonor, good repute and evil, temptation and despair, all serve as a means of ripening the inner person. Remember, we do not live in order to have an easy time of it, but to be made mature for eternity. This teaches us to rejoice in anticipation of the harvest.
The Lord is waiting: “When the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the sickle.”
“O joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain
That mom shall tearless be.”
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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