I have been meaning to write this blog for a while now; but time has been jealously keeping me from this forum. Nevertheless, the more the thoughts have been nursing and festering in my head, the more convicted I have become of the reality and a wisdom and an urgency has been birthed in me. Indeed; a hunger and a drive has risen with a quiet fury in me to live out this promise and experience this same benevolence that Isaac experienced.
The context in which the verse I quote was in a hard season-a time of drought in a time where agriculture was probably not just the backbone of the economy, but its flesh and sinews as well. It was a time when the season for rain that heralds the readiness of the field to be worked had come and gone and there was no change; a time where hopes and expectations for the coming season (for many a person) had like the leaves and flowers shrivelled and died and one was most likely tempted to give up trying to the hands of fate—it was in this time that Isaac sowed a seed and by the grace; the unqualified benevolence of God; that he reaped an hundred fold return.
I am immediately tempted to begin to encourage you to start sowing your seed; but I realise that the idea has been abused and it must be qualified what this seed is.
Consider this; it does not say Isaac went to the altar and sacrificed and then the Lord rained down provision; rather he invested his energy; his resources; his knowledge and talents in the same area that the situation demanded would not be fruitful but the difference was his trust for the return was in God. The same land that everyone else would have farmed; the same industry everyone else was reliant on; the same trade the country survived on was where he sowed. He directed his talents and energy towards the thing he was trained to do for a living; but the difference between him and the next person was who he looked unto for the result. You see; this seed was not him going to an altar to make a financial sacrifice so that God would rain provision on his life (for the record, I am not against it and yes, I know the story of Elisha; but that is a separate principle), he did the thing he was trained, specialised in and in the same land—-he was not stupid; he knew there was no rain and as a farmer he knew what that meant for a harvest—but his trust was in the Lord. And because of where his trust lay; he knew what the outcome of his endeavours would be—that the Lord God would fulfil his promise towards him.
Now therefore, I can start to ask and encourage you; what drought and hard land do you find yourself in? Where is it that the land which ought to yield its fruit has shrivelled, become dusty and shows no signs of life? Being a Zimbabwean, some of those answers are obvious—our economy is the joke of SADC, industries have closed, and we are for the biggest part a vendor nation.
So I say to you; breathe in and out; relax and take heart—you have a God and a Father in heaven who is not in the slightest pertubed by the situation–for He is all powerful. Take a look at your hands; at yourself and realise you are in the same shoes as Isaac; and therefore realise that now is the time to start sowing your seed—the time to start investing yourself in the application of your talents; of your abilities wherever that maybe; and instead of looking to the land which is the situation for your harvest; look unto our great and marvellous Father. Remember not a altar sacrifice where you take your money to give and have no input in the work of your hands; but a seed where you do what you know you are called and purposed to do. It is a shame that the idea of a seed and a sacrifice is often corrupted by the cunning of men who try to make you feel guilty. (i am a giver; I fully support giving but there is cheerful giving and giving under coercion. I believe there is a difference. Feel free to talk about this.
I say and I repeat; now is the time to sow your seed; be diligent, work hard–working as unto Christ and not unto man; apply yourself in the area of your talents and your gifts and enjoy the work of your hands. Look not unto man but unto God for your reward. I do not know how God will cause the return to come into your hands, but I am certain beyond doubt that He will.
You see; more than all else in His creation, it is you that He loves and adores; and to the point of the death and suffering of Jesus has He demonstrated just how far He will go in His love for you. And as the Word rightly asks; “He who has given us Jesus, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?
Selah.