“Do you think the work of harvesting will not begin until the summer ends four months from now? Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest.” - John 4:35
Look around you,” said Jesus to his disciples. “Vast fields . . . are ready now for the harvest,” he exhorted them. Squinting against the midday sun, the disciples followed Jesus’ gaze. Coming up the hill toward the village well were the men of Samaria, led by the woman to whom Jesus had been talking. Of course it was the men that the woman went to first. Men were her weakness, but men she knew, men she loved, and men she would tell about “a man who told me everything I ever did” (John 4:29). Coming to Jesus, the men entreated him to stay with them, and he graciously accepted their invitation.
I am sure the disciples weren’t sure about it all, but Jesus, who “had to go through Samaria” (John 4:4), knew he “had to” stay two days with the woman and her friends (John 4:40). And the inevitable miracle happened— many believed that Jesus “is indeed the Savior of the world” (John 4:42).
This, then, was the harvest Jesus spoke about to his disciples. To see similar possibilities, we will need to “look around.” The disciples, assigned the mundane task of procuring bread from the village mill, had forgotten the Bread of Life who walked by their side. We must raise up our eyes to him daily and then follow his gaze to the harvest fields that are white already!
Hard I look—
I see Thee,
I follow Thine eye—
I see them—
Running—Ready—Ripe
Send me forth, a harvester.
For Further Study: John 4:31-38
Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.
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