Waiting For Rain Farmers are directly dependent on the weather for their livelihood. If the weather is too dry or too wet, too cold or too hot, their produce will be adversely affected. In drier countries, such as Israel, the margin of safety is even less, and the importance of plentiful rain at the proper times is significantly greater. Whether grown on a small family farm or a large estate, the crop and its subsequent value are directly dependent on rain. The early rain, which generally falls in October and November, moistens the ground and prepares it for planting and germination. The latter rain, around March or April, ripens the crops for harvest. Read James 5:7. Compare Deut. 11:14, Jer. 5:24, 14:22, Joel 2:23. What point do the Old Testament passages make about the rain? Why do you think James uses this image in connection with the coming of the Lord? See also Hos. 6:1-3; Joel 2:28, 29. Under the figure of the early and the latter rain, that falls in Eastern lands at seedtime and harvest, the Hebrew prophets foretold the bestowal of spiritual grace in extraordinary measure upon God’s church. The outpouring of the Spirit in the days of the apostles was the beginning of the early, or former rain, and glorious was the re- sult. . . . But near the close of earth’s harvest, a special bestowal of spiritual grace is promised to prepare the church for the coming of the Son of man. This outpouring of the Spirit is likened to the falling of the latter rain; and it is for this added power that Christians are to send their petitions to the Lord of the harvest ‘in the time of the latter rain.’ ” —Ellen G. White, Our Father Cares, p. 212. Jesus refers to the “harvest” at “the end of the world” (Matt. 13:39). Mark 4:26-29 presents a very similar picture to that of James 5:7. The farmer waits for the grain to ripen: “ ‘first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come’ ” (Mark 4:28, 29, ESV). Only at harvesttime is it possible to distinguish the wheat from the tares (Matt. 13:28-30; compare Mal. 3:17, 18). What should the fact that we can distinguish the wheat from the tares only at harvesttime tell us about how we must live out our faith now, before the harvest?
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 05:05:10 +0000