And Again

Revelation 14:13-15 English Standard Version

13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

The Harvest of the Earth

14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”

To be honest with you this Word of the Lord came to me a week ago and I did not know what to do with it. So I searched the scriptures for an answer. My posts for the last few days are the result of that search. 

For me, when I believe I am hearing the Lord, I look to the scriptures for understanding. I allow His Word to lead me to answers that satisfy my conscience of service. What is my conscience of service you might ask?

1 Kings 19:9 English Standard Version

The Lord Speaks to Elijah

9 There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

I sat in my man cave and I sought a Word from the Lord. I am no Elijah but I see God speaking to me in the same way. “What do you think you are doing?”

I want to deliver a helpful Word to your people, Lord.

“Then deliver the Words I give you and stop trying to explain it as you understand it.”

There was no booming voice coming from the clouds, a fearful loud voice that caught me hiding in my sanctuary. It was the scriptures speaking to me by faith.

It is more important for the scriptures to speak to you than it is for me to explain what I am thinking.

Reeds

The reed that bows itself down has not responded to the breath of God.

These are the words that I left off with yesterday. Did those words strike a cord within you?

Isaiah 58:5 English Standard Version (ESV) Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?

This is the verse I left out yesterday that inspired my thought. 

The image is a field of golden wheat moving to the rhythm of the wind. All those reed stocks moving in unison, wave after wave. If anyone has seen that on a sun lite field it is memorable.

Now for the message.

Matthew 13:24-30 English Standard Version

The Parable of the Weeds

24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

Matthew 11:15 English Standard Version (ESV) He who has ears to hear, let him hear.