Lord of the Harvest

Photo by Melissa Askew

Approximately 2000 years ago, Matthew recorded these words from Jesus in chapter 9:37 — “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Later, John in his Gospel picks up the same theme in chapter 4, verse 35, when he quotes Jesus’ words: “lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.” In each reference, the picture of a field bursting with ripe produce and ready to be harvested is abundantly clear, but so is the need for more laborers.

So, has this changed in the years since?

According to the Joshua Project, there are 7.76 billion people in the world today. Forty-two point five percent of the world’s population — 3.32 billion people — is unreached. To be included in this group, by definition, there can only be a few evangelicals, a few people who identify as Christians, and little, if any, history of Christianity in the group. This means that there is no real witness to the Gospel and the potential for being reached is practically non-existent. That means almost half of the world’s population is left without a Christian witness in their midst.

In comparison, there are an estimated 140,000 Protestant missionaries working on the foreign mission field today, and the vast majority are not working among the unreached people. Quite a contrast!

But there are two things we can take away from these verses. First, the fields were ripe then, and they are still ripe now. We can easily be overwhelmed by the task at hand, but we must remember that God is the one who is raising up the harvest. He provides the rain, the sun, and the nutrients that cause the ground to produce an abundant physical harvest of food; so too does He provide everything needed for the harvest of souls. He is the “Lord of the harvest.”

The second take-away is how do we respond to this need? God is still moved with great compassion as He sees the great need. The word "compassion" carries the idea of suffering together, so He is not only feeling the weight of the suffering of the lost, but He is also deeply moved to help. Jesus realized that being in a physical body, like us, He Himself could not physically care for all the needs He saw. There was not enough time in a day and enough strength in His body. So, His answer was to go to the Father in prayer — prayer for more laborers!

When we see a need, we like to do things — call a meeting, organize a mission week, develop a program, or any number of potentially good strategies. But God likes to call ourselves to Himself. It is the time with Him that opens the door for God to work. He works in us and through us and shows Himself to be powerful as He answers our prayers.

Liebenzell was founded as the result of a call for more missionaries. We have remained true to that call through the years as we have sent missionaries to the Pacific Islands, to South America, and to Africa. Today, we see the growing need for more people to hear the good news of the Gospel. We are more committed than ever to reaching the people of the world with more missionaries, more mission fields, and more ministries. So, we are praying to the Lord of the harvest: "Lord, send out more laborers to more fields to reap more of the growing harvest through us! "

Will you join us with your prayers? Will you join us on the field? Please prayerfully consider what the Lord of the Harvest would have you do.