Claim Your Sheave

UV 1729/10000 Claim Your Sheaves
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
Psalm 126 v 6

We need to go forth. We need to take the initiative. We cannot sit in isolation, depressed and bemoaning our fate. We need to bear the precious seed of the gospel. The seed is precious for without it there would be no generation. The seed is precious for it gives hope. The seed is precious as it was obtained at great cost. The seed is precious as it is the seed of goodness, greatness, glory, hope and salvation of all mankind. It is the seed of success, excellence and fulfilment. Every day we sow the seed in the lives of others by the words we speak. Each believer in Jesus has his own unique gospel story- of where the Lord led his feet and what He did in his life. Every day we add a letter or a word to our gospel story. Gospel- go spell it out it in the way we live. We need to bear the precious seed of the Word of God. We need to bear the precious seed of the promises of the Lord. We need to bear the precious seed of the commandments and leading of the Lord. Certain things He commands with a loud voice, certain things He whispers in our ears. The Holy Spirit whispers in our ears, “ Don’t go that way- it will add to your tears. Go this way.” Action, persistent action needs to follow belief. We need to carry the Word with us to work and not leave it behind at home. Indeed, “ Carry the word when we are young, and the Word will carry us when we are old.” We need to be messengers of the Lord wherever we are going. We are “blessengers” as we carry a message to bless others with similar hope and strength.

Tears are a metaphor for difficulties, troubles, obstacles, barriers, limitations, persecution, sorrows, pain, efforts.. The most difficult part of growing a seed is the long wait to see it turn into wheat or grain or fruit. If we fill this period with constant communication with the Lord, with praise, thanksgiving and supplication, with faith and hope and assurance, we will be greatly blessed and rewarded. He is the only one who knows the end from the beginning and He will comfort, encourage, strengthen and cheer us up. We need to weep tears of repentance, tears of persistence, tears of gratitude, tears of love and compassion. These tears will moisten the precious seed that we carry in our hearts and cause it to germinate and grow. As scripture says, “tears by night will be followed by laughter in the morning.” We need to spend hours and hours in prayer with tears and thanksgiving. Prayer is labouring in the spirit. We are sowing in the spirit. When we sow the precious promises of the Lord in the spirit through prayer claiming each promise, it will grow to bear grain or fruit in our lives. Joseph, the dreamer went forth from Israel to Egypt, the land of his bondage but in the land of his bondage, as he held onto the precious dreams he saw as a callow youth, he held onto his faith and hope in the Lord, though with tears. The Lord blessed him wherever he went and prospered him. He turned his bondage into freedom, his curses into blessings, the conspiracy of his brothers into a plan for salvation of Israel. Joseph wept loudly but secretly on seeing his brothers. Those were tears of love and compassion and not bitterness or self pity. Their sheaves bowed to his sheaves. His sheaves saved their lives. A promise sown in faith is a precious seed. A promise fulfilled, a dream realized is a sheave.

There is great joy at the time of harvest. When the seed we have sown in different fields have grown and we see the fruit of our spirit, our labour of faith and the Lord’s grace, we truly rejoice. The promise in this uni-verse is that we would “doubtless” come again with rejoicing. We will not go empty handed as we came into this world but we shall experience intense joy, the tears of joy, the laughter of a merry soul. There shall be rejoicing in the tabernacle of the righteous. Rejoice, rejoice, and again I say, rejoice for the Lord is faithful and He will do that which He has promised us. We should not keep the seed to ourselves but sow it according to a person’s need. We need to “know the need, do the deed and sow the seed.”
Prateep V Philip