Genesis 8:22 22 “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
Galatians 6:7 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
The principle of seedtime and harvest, of sowing and reaping, is a fundamental principle of God, both in the natural and in the spiritual.
Another principle is that what seed you plant, is the crop that will be produced. The seed reproduces after its kind.
Genesis 1:11 11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.
God shows how this is true in the spiritual realm also. If we continue on in Galatians 6,
Galatians 6:7-8 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
The kingdom of God operates on the principle of seedtime and harvest.
Mark 4:26-29 26 And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground,
27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.
28 For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.
29 But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Here we see three stages of producing a crop
- Seed sown
- Growing period
- Harvest / Reaping
Seed Sown
There can be no harvest unless seed is sown. This is actually a result of “seed reproduces after its kind”. If you plant “no seed”, then you get “no harvest”.
Most of all the promises of God require an investment on our part; something we have to do. Usually what we have to “do” is believe God, exercise our faith, and be obedient to what He directs us to do. The investment is the time spent in study, and in prayer, to build that faith and to seek His will.
It costs something to walk by faith and not by sight – to go by what we believe and not by what we see or feel. Sometimes we have to put down the flesh.
What you plant is what you get
You can’t plant wheat and get corn, or plant strawberries and get watermelon. Similarly, you can’t continually sow to the flesh and expect to reap a harvest from the spirit.
A lot of times when we hear the phrase “a man reaps what he sows”, it is taken in a negative context – i.e., sowing to the flesh. But the principle of what you sow you shall reap works for good things also, not just bad things. What we should do is adapt ourselves so we can get the seedtime/harvest principle to work for us instead of against us.
For example, Genesis 8:22 says that there will always be cold and heat, winter and summer. How do we adapt to that? In the summer we wear cool clothes and turn on the air conditioner. In the winter we wear warm clothes and turn on the heater.
So how do we get the seedtime/harvest principle to work to our advantage? By sowing good seed, and avoiding sowing bad seed.
How seed is sown
Mark 4:13-14 13 And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
14 The sower sows the word.
In the passage of the parable of the Sower in Mark 4:3-20, it is speaking of the Word of God being sown (you can lean more about the parable of the sower in my article on Faith Comes by Hearing (parable of the sower). But in general all words are seeds. They have the capacity to produce results. What kinds of seeds are you planting?
Seeds must be planted in soil to grow. The “soil” that they are planted in is our hearts. There is more to “getting a crop” than just saying it, even as there is more to growing crops than seed in a sack.
Mark 4:23-24 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
24 Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.
There is a saying in data processing – GIGO, which stands for Garbage In, Garbage Out. If you have bad data coming in to your computer program, it’s not going to produce good results.
Matthew 12:34 34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
What you have been feeding yourself with the most is what is going to come out, when you’re under pressure. Jesus goes on to say
Matthew 12:35-36 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
Idle words, meaning empty, void of power, non-operative. These are things you say that you don’t believe, maybe in jest. The problem is if you are used to saying a lot of idle words, you don’t have control over your mouth and you will be apt to say bad things.
Diverse (mixed) Seed
Deuteronomy 22:9 9 “You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled.
Farmers don’t mix wheat and corn seed together and plant it. The two crops have conflicting requirements, and how would you harvest it? It would be a total mess, and the yield on each would be greatly decreased.
James 3:8-12 8 But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.
10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?
12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.
Ephesians 4:29 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
Weeds
There are many references in the saying of Jesus to planting “good seed”. This would be seed that is not mixed, it only contains what will produce the crop you want. Specifically, it doesn’t have weed seeds in it.
Mark 4:18-19 18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word,
19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Weed seed is the word of the world. You see, there is seed you plant purposefully, and seed that gets planted just because of the environment you are in.
If you plant a garden, it takes effort to keep the weeds out. If you just let things go, the weeds will eventually dominate.
Farmers prepare the soil, then plant an abundance of the seed for the crop they want to harvest. We went to a church where we drove by lots of farmland. I didn’t see weeds growing in amongst the crop. That was because there was so much of the good seed that it dominated and choked out the weeds.
But I noticed something else – around the edges of the field, where the crops weren’t planted – there were weeds.
So words you hear are the seeds that are planted in your heart. But you give power to the seeds by what you say.
It is the things you say and believe that produce results.
Romans 10:9-10 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Mark 11:22-23 22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.
23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
Supplying Seed to the Sower
To reap a harvest, you need to sow seed of the type of crop you want to grow.
The principal of seed sowing is giving. The farmer saves part of his crop and turns it into seed to sow for the next harvest. Or he/she may buy seed. Even in that case, someone is turning part of one year’s crop into the source of the next year’s.
The world says “if you don’t have enough, hang on to and horde what little you have”. But the seed principal says “give, and it shall be given to you”.
2 Corinthians 9:6-8 6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
If you read the context of these verses, in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, Paul is talking about taking up a relief offering for Jerusalem. He is talking about money. Finances is an easy place to observe the principal of sowing and reaping, but it is definitely not limited to it.
We see in verse 6, that your harvest will be in proportion to your sowing.
We also see that your attitude is important. In fact, it is probably more important than the quantity you give. It is to be done cheerfully, with joy.
Verse 8 I believe illustrates God’s will for us in finances. Here it is in the Amplified version:
2 Corinthians 9:8 AMP And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may be always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation],
His will for us is abundance. Enough to meet your needs, plus extra. What should we do with the extra? Help someone else out.
2 Corinthians 9:9 9 As it is written: “He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.”
“He” who? The one that sows and reaps, and gives out of his abundance to others. It says his “righteousness endures forever”.
1 Corinthians 3:11-15 talks about how our works are judged for the purpose of reward; they are “wood, hay, or stubble”, or “gold, silver, and precious stones”, and are tested by fire. We are rewarded on the basis of that which remains (you can learn more about this in my article Looking for God’s Reward). It appears that giving to the poor is one of those works in the gold, silver, precious stones category because your righteousness endures forever. It passes the fire test.
But what if I don’t have any seed to sow?
You’ve got something – quit thinking in terms of money. You can give of your time. A kind word or deed.
Then we have the next verse:
2 Corinthians 9:10-11 10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.
God will provide seed for you to sow, and bread for food. Don’t make the mistake of eating the seed you were supposed to sow!
A little sown in faith will produce a far greater harvest than a lot sown in doubt.
Start believing to live in the abundance part of God’s promise, and not just barely having your needs met.
Luke 6:38 KJV 38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
Jesus has some similar words about giving as Paul (where do you think Paul got the idea from?). And we love to have our “laps poured into”. But that should not be the end goal. The end goal should be one of the “men” who is pouring into the laps of others!
Growing Period
Inherent in the seedtime/harvest principle is the growing period. You don’t get an instant harvest right after you plant the seed.
During the growth period, the seeds must be watered, nurtured, and protected, else they may be aborted and never reach the harvest.
Notice that even childbirth follows this principal: seed planted: conception; growing period: 9 months gestation; harvest: birth.
Patience is Required
So there is a time delay between the planting and the harvest.
Mark 4:26-29 26 And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground,
27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.
28 For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.
29 But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
And because of that delay, patience is required!
Hebrews 10:35-36 KJV 35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
Galatians 6:9 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Sometimes it might look like nothing is happening. Don’t dig up your seed!
Protect and Nurture the Seed
Your crop may be attacked during the growing period. One of Satan’s main tactics is to try to get us to be discouraged and give up.
What if the farmer who got up night and day got discouraged and stopped watering?
In Bible times, farmers were largely dependent on rainfall to water their crops. If it didn’t rain, they would have no or little harvest, and that was the source of the famines you read about in the Bible.
Egypt was an exception. They worked out a method of irrigation and pulled water from the Nile, using pumps powered by slaves.
Deuteronomy 11:10-11 10 For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden;
11 but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven,
Another threat that farmers face is insects devouring the crop. Modern farmers combat that with pesticides. Certainly organic produce (grown without the use of pesticides) is better for you to consume, but using pesticides is better for the production. One of the reasons that organic food is more expensive is because the yields are smaller, and organic practices for controlling insects are hard to do on very large farms. But the use of DDT is credited for a drastic reduction in famines throughout the world in modern times.
Continued in Part Two…
