I had thought that God’s blessing to “a thousand generations” of one who loved and was obedient meant chronological and biological generations taking hundreds of years that one person would never see, but that was promised to one person and gives hope to faithful followers ….just as Abraham became the biological father of the tribe and nation that, throughout the Old Testament and up until Jesus, was the actual physical fulfillment of God’s promise of blessings to a “thousand generations”, indeed to all the earth through Abraham. And from Jesus forward the covenant of blessing was continued and extended to all Gentiles and even all humankind through Jesus’ redeeming and reconciling work on the cross that enabled all to be adopted into the family of God.
But when considered in the spiritual harvest terms described today of one seed in four landing in good soil and yielding up to 400 new seeds, and of those 400 seeds, even if only 1 in 4 lands in good soil, that’s 40,000 new seeds arising from good soil in the second harvest. Considering that the second generation harvest and third generation harvest in spiritual agronomy described by JD Walt today in the seedbed.com Wake Up Call can be as quick as a few months to 3-5 years or so in producing results, it really doesn’t take long to hit that “thousand generation” milestone from a single seed. A single life devoted to God can have that impact in one’s own lifespan’s years depending on how faithfully and consistently one is sowing.
“Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations….” Deuteronomy 7:9
That can encourage any believer who is obedient to the Lord that through one’s life devoted to serving God’s will, one can fulfill that purpose and actually be alive to see the “thousand generations” of seed mature and yield again and again.
The key is in simply continuing to sow seeds. God produces the yield in fields His own hand has cultivated. If we are sowing, He is multiplying the seeds and tilling the soil of new fields for the next sowing and the next harvest in every season. Believe it!
God has wired us for laughter and delight as much as for determined focus on and obedience to His Word….
I was driving a young lady to her Monday morning probation check in this morning. As we travel from place to place each day I am talking to her, sharing the morning Wake Up Call or a Bible lesson or discussing take-aways from the weekend sermon and activities. This morning she was listening to a Christian radio station when I began laughing. She asked what I was laughing about. So, I told her the parable of the 4 soils and described this morning’s crop production lesson from JD. I told her as I had been reflecting on the morning Scripture and the good soil’s harvest just then as we sat at a stoplight, suddenly a voice inside my head began singing “Green Acres is the place to be…Farm living is the life for me…..Land spreading out so far and wide….. Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside!!!!
After we sang the Green Acres theme song together, I dropped her off and continued my morning errands, smiling on my way.
One other humorous aspect of this morning’s “wild mind” experience is that I have always envisioned my home in heaven being little old grey weathered wood farmhouse just inside the pearly gates!!…..LOL!!
Because water is so integral to the germination, growth, and harvest, too, I am reminded that we can get focused on a glass or a bucket being only 1/2 filled (or only 1/4 filled) and forget that it is already actually filled with both water and air …… and furthermore, that the hand that pours from the never-ending fountain or well that fills the glass or bucket is always upon both the fountain and the vessel and will always satisfy our thirst if we are pursuing righteousness.
God’s provision through His agronomy and economy is always sufficient to accomplish His good purpose.
Lord, let me keep my eyes fixed on you and what you are doing and not get distracted by the devil’s attempts to tell me what an inefficient, wasteful, and unproductive sower or field I am!