Harvest of Hope

“Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe…” John 12:37.

It amazes me that a group of people who dedicated their lives to studying…breathing in and out… ingesting and digesting the prophesies of the Old Testament still didn’t recognize Jesus as the awaited Messiah and Savior. They witnessed miracle upon miracle performed by this man. Jesus fulfilled every prophesy right before the Pharisees’ eyes and still they kept their eyes beyond the Lamb instead of on the Lamb.

It is so tempting for me to judge…to want to shake them by the shoulders…highlight each fulfillment in the Bible until my arm is tired. But then I realize that sometimes I can be just as blind. I saw God deliver my daughter from the clutches of drugs, and I still struggle to believe that He can and will perform a miracle in an unanswered prayer. I saw God restore work for me and Bruce beyond imagination a few years ago, yet my heart grows faint wondering if work will ever come again.

We all become like the Pharisees on any given day, but let us put our gaze back on the Lamb. He is still the One who walks with us. He is still the One who will never leave us. He is still the One who walks on water and raises the dead. He will be the One to fulfill His promises to us, and He will be the One to walk with us through the tough valleys. The one thing that always re-settles my heart when I doubt is to look up in my rear-view mirror and see what is behind me. Through remembering the times when He showed up big, I refocus on how big He is. Through gratitude of past blessings, I can believe that there will be future ones.

When you are feeling discouraged and weary from ‘believing…yet not seeing,’ fix your eyes on past mercies and grace which God has given you. ‘You may be living under a promise of God but not yet see the fruit of that promise. You may be praying for something that has not happened yet and maybe even see no hope of it ever coming to pass. Though we may not understand, we must trust God’s timing is perfect.’ Finding I Am, Lysa Terkeurst, p. 116. In remembering His past workings hope and peace will be our harvest.

“Let us not become weary…for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Gal 6:9