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Little by Little ... continued ~
are unprepared for the task we have set out
to accomplish.
We need to remember that Jesus spent
thirty years preparing for three and one half
years ministry and he was the Son of God.
This age is particularly plagued with the fast
pace of life and we find ourselves teaching
when we should be listening and writing
when we should be reading.
There is no substitute for experience and
we get experience only one day at a time.
God is still visiting the Gentiles, to take out
of them a people for His Name and he is
doing it little by little. “For precept must
be upon precept, precept upon precept;
line upon line, line upon line; here a little,
and there a little” said the Lord through
Isaiah. Therefore thus saith the Lord God,
“Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a
stone, a tried stone, a precious corner
stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth
shall not make haste.” Isa. 28:10,16.
Jesus taught that the kingdom of God was
as a grain of mustard seed, a great kingdom
from a small beginning and God is calling
and preparing the saints from that kingdom
from all ages, little by little.
We must not be too impatient or too proud
to do little tasks and take short steps – too
often we want to wait and do nothing until
we can do something spectacular. Instead
we are wise if we will only remember that
the greatest things done on earth have been
done little by little.
Reaping What is Sown - from “Way Ahead”
I
n the normal course of events a sower
expects to reap a harvest after the growing
season. If you plant little, you can only expect
a small harvest. If you plant a lot you expect
a lot. While a harvest is not guaranteed, we
would agree that this makes general sense.
This is the same with the way we live our life.
We will harvest from life what we sow in life.
As God says; “Do not be deceived: God cannot
be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (Gal
6:7). This is a spiritual truth that affects much
more of our lives than we care to think.
In everyday life, the reap-what-you-sow prin-
ciple holds true. A friendly man will have many
friends and the opposite is also true. A
generous man will find people are generous to
them, and the opposite also holds.We are told
in 2 Corinthians 9:6 “whoever sows sparingly
will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows
generously will also reap generously.” An
angry man will find many disagreements and
a peacemaker is more likely to find peace.
We find many examples of the principle of
reaping-what-is-sown throughout the Bible.
Proverbs tells us; “the one who sows
righteousness reaps a sure reward” (11:18)
and “whoever sows injustice will reap sorrow”
(22:8). Both examples are illustrated in the
life of Jacob.
Jacob sowed deceit when he dressed up as
Esau and deceived his own father. He over-
turned the natural order of the firstborn and
obtained Esau’s blessing. Seven years later he
was at the receiving end of a similar case of
the blessing of the firstborn. He was deceived
by Laban in the matter of marrying the first-
born Leah, rather than the second, Rachel. It
can be reasonably argued that Jacob got what
he deserved. Jacob’s deception came back on
him in other ways. Laban deceived him over
his wages ten times. Later his sons learnt his
bad habits and deceived him and others in the
matter of Shechem. Later still, and equally
dramatically, his sons deceived him in the
matter of Joseph. Jacob sowed deception and
reaped deception. There is a certain justice
about this.
Jacob also sowed and reaped a blessing. When
God asked him to leave Laban, he obeyed. It
was a dangerous move. But God came to his