A Time Of Harvest

November always brings with it thoughts of harvest and thanksgiving.  It's a time when the earth finishes giving it's fruits, sheds its summer foliage and prepares for the winter that lays ahead.  This time of harvest is a gift of God and likewise prepares man for the winter season.  Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.  Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them (Psalm 126:5-6).  We are comforted knowing that He will provide for us as his children.  Christ emphasized that as long as we seek Him first, everything else we need will be provided (Matthew 6:33).

          These yearly seasonal cycles are reminders to us that God's love sustains his creation.  Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. Psalm 107:1  Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.  Psalm 55:22

        The physical blessings alone are overwhelming.  When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place,what is mankind that You are mindful of them, human beings that You care for them? Psalm 8:3-4  The earth is the Lord痴, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Psalm 24:1  How abundant are the good things that You have stored up for those who fear You, that You bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in You. Psalm 31:19

          It would serve all Christians well to spend more time dwelling on the thoughts of God's strengthening hand and all the blessings He bestows upon us.  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17  So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 

          But the physical blessings are small in comparison to the spiritual ones that are eternal.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,  Eph. 1:3-5  Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Cor. 5:17

          We serve a loving God that gives us so much to be thankful for.  Praise God!

- Marc Hopkins