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Ninth
Lesson
"Pray the Lord of the harvest"
Or,
Prayer provides Labourers.
"Then saith He unto His disciples, The harvest
truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the
Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest."
-Matt.
9:37-38
...cry to the Lord of
the harvest to send forth labourers.
The Lord frequently taught His disciples that
they must pray, and how; but seldom what to pray. This he
left to their sense of need, and the leading of the Spirit. But here we
have one thing He expressly enjoins them to remember: in view of the
plenteous harvest, and the need of reapers, they must cry to the Lord of
the harvest to send forth labourers. Just as in the parable of the
friend at midnight, He would have them understand that prayer is not to
be selfish; so here it is the power through which blessing can come to
others. The Father is Lord of the harvest; when we pray for the Holy
Spirit, we must pray for Him to prepare and send forth labourers for the
work.
Strange, is it not, that He should ask His disciples to
pray for this? And could He not pray Himself?
And would not one prayer
of His avail more than a thousand of theirs? And God, the Lord of the
harvest, did He not see the need? And would not He, in His own good
time, send forth labourers without their prayer? Such questions lead us
up to the deepest mysteries of prayer, and its power in the Kingdom of
God. The answer to such questions will convince us that prayer is indeed
a power, on which the ingathering of the harvest and the coming of the
Kingdom do in very truth depend.
...given them
authority and right to call in the powers of heaven to their aid as they
needed them.
Prayer is no form or show.
The Lord Jesus was Himself
the truth; everything He spake was the deepest truth.
It was when (see
ver. 36) He saw the multitude, and was moved with compassion on them,
because they were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd, that He
called on the disciples to pray for labourers to be sent among them.
He
did so because He really believed that their prayer was needed, and
would help.
The veil which so hides the invisible world from us was
wonderfully transparent to the holy human soul of Jesus. He had looked
long and deep and far into the hidden connection of cause and effect in
the spirit world. He had marked in God's Word how, when God called men
like Abraham and Moses, Joshua and Samuel and Daniel, and given them
authority over men in His name, He had at the same time given them
authority and right to call in the powers of heaven to their aid as they
needed them.
...on them, and their being faithful or
unfaithful, the success of the work would actually depend.
He knew that as to these men of old, and to Himself for a
time, here upon earth, the work of God had been entrusted, so it was now
about to pass over into the hands of His disciples. He knew that when
this work should be given in charge to them, it would not be a mere
matter of form or show, but that on them, and their being faithful or
unfaithful, the success of the work would actually depend.
As a single
individual, within the limitations of a human body and a human life,
Jesus feels how little a short visit can accomplish among these
wandering sheep He sees around Him, and He longs for help to have them
properly cared for. And so He tells His disciples now to begin and pray,
and, when they have taken over the work from Him on earth, to make this
one of the chief petitions in their prayer: That the Lord of the harvest
Himself would send forth labourers into His harvest. The God who
entrusted them with the work, and made it to so large extent dependent
on them, gives them authority to apply to Him for labourers to help, and
makes the supply dependent on their prayer.
...the number of the labourers and
the measure of the harvest does actually depend upon their prayer.
How little Christians really feel and mourn the need of
labourers in the fields of the world so white to the harvest. And how
little they believe that our labour-supply depends on prayer, that
prayer will really provide as many as he needeth. Not that the dearth of
labour is not known or discussed. Not that efforts are not sometimes put
forth to supply the want. But how little the burden of the sheep
wandering without a Shepherd is really borne in the faith that the Lord
of the harvest will, in answer to prayer, send forth the
labourers, and in the solemn conviction that without this prayer fields
ready for reaping will be left to perish. And yet it is so.
So wonderful
is the surrender of His work into the hands of His Church, so dependent
has the Lord made Himself on them as His body, through whom alone His
work can be done, so real is the power which the Lord gives His people
to exercise in heaven and earth, that the number of the labourers and
the measure of the harvest does actually depend upon their prayer.
O let us pray for a life so one with Christ, that
His compassion may stream into us, and His Spirit be able to assure us
that our prayer avails.
Solemn thought! O why is it that we do not
obey the injunction of the Master more heartily, and cry more earnestly
for labourers? There are two reasons for this.
The one is: We miss the
compassion of Jesus, which gave rise to this request for prayer. When
believers learn that to love their neighbours as themselves, that to
live entirely for God's glory in their fellow-men, is the Father's first
commandment to His redeemed ones, they will accept of the perishing ones
as the charge entrusted to them by their Lord. And, accepting them not
only as a field of labour, but as the objects of loving care and
interest, it will not be long before compassion towards the hopelessly
perishing will touch their heart, and the cry ascend with an earnestness
till then unknown: Lord! send labourers.
The other reason for the
neglect of the command, the want of faith, will then make itself felt,
but will be overcome as our pity pleads for help.
We believe too little
in the power of prayer to bring about definite results. We do not live
close enough to God, and are not enough entirely given up to His service
and Kingdom, to be capable of the confidence that He will give it in
answer to our prayer. O let us pray for a life so one with Christ, that
His compassion may stream into us, and His Spirit be able to assure us
that our prayer avails.
It must be our
prayer that the Lord would so fill all His people with the spirit of
devotion, that not one may be found standing idle in the vineyard.
Such prayer will ask and obtain a twofold blessing.
There will first be the desire for the increase of men entirely given up
to the service of God. It is a terrible blot upon the Church of Christ
that there are times when actually men cannot be found for the service
of the Master as ministers, missionaries, or teachers of God's Word.
As
God's children make this a matter of supplication for their own circle
or Church, it will be given. The Lord Jesus is now Lord of the harvest.
He has been exalted to bestow gifts the gifts of the Spirit. His chief
gifts are men filled with the Spirit. But the supply and distribution of
the gifts depend on the co-operation of Head and members. It is just
prayer will lead to such co-operation; the believing suppliants will be
stirred to find the men and the means for the work.
The other blessing to be asked will not be less. Every
believer is a labourer; not one of God's children who has not been
redeemed for service, and has not his work waiting.
It must be our
prayer that the Lord would so fill all His people with the spirit of
devotion, that not one may be found standing idle in the vineyard.
Wherever there is a complaint of the want of helpers, or of fit helpers
in God's work, prayer has the promise of a supply. There is no Sunday
school or district visiting, no Bible reading or rescue work, where God
is not ready and able to provide. It may take time and importunity, but
the command of Christ to ask the Lord of the harvest is the pledge that
the prayer will be heard: I say unto you, he will arise and give him as
many as he needeth.
Let us set apart time and give
ourselves to this part of our intercessory work.
Solemn, blessed thought! this power has
been given us in prayer to provide in the need of the world, to secure
the servants for God's work. The Lord of the harvest will hear.
Christ,
who called us so specially to pray thus, will support our prayers
offered in His name and interest.
Let us set apart time and give
ourselves to this part of our intercessory work. It will lead us into
the fellowship of that compassionate heart of His that led Him to call
for our prayers. It will elevate us to the insight of our regal
position, as those whose will counts for something with the great God in
the advancement of His Kingdom. It will make us feel how really we are
God's fellow-workers on earth, to whom a share in His work has in
downright earnest been entrusted. It will make us partakers in the soul
travail, but also in the soul satisfaction of Jesus, as we know how, in
answer to our prayer, blessing has been given that otherwise would not
have come.
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LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY.
...give
us to see aright the spiritual realities of which Thou hast been
speaking.
Blessed Lord! Thou hast this day again given
us another of Thy wondrous lessons to learn. We humbly ask Thee, O give
us to see aright the spiritual realities of which Thou hast been
speaking. There is the harvest which is so large, and perishing, as it
waits for sleepy disciples to give the signal for labourers to come.
Lord, teach us to look out upon it with a heart moved with compassion
and pity. There are the labourers, so few. Lord, show us how terrible
the sin of the want of prayer and faith, of which this is the token.
And
there is the Lord of the harvest, so able and ready to send them forth.
Lord, show us how He does indeed wait for the prayer to which He has
bound His answer. And there are the disciples, to whom the commission to
pray has been given: Lord, show us how Thou canst pour down Thy Spirit
and breathe upon them, so that Thy compassion and the faith in Thy
promise shall rouse them to unceasing, prevailing prayer.
...prayer, offered in
loving faith in the living God, will bring certain and abundant answer.
O our Lord! we cannot understand how Thou
canst entrust such work and give such power to men so slothful and
unfaithful. We thank Thee for all whom Thou art teaching to cry day and
night for labourers to be sent forth.
Lord, breathe Thine own Spirit on
all Thy children, that they may learn to live for this one thing alone
the Kingdom and glory of their Lord and become fully awake to the faith
of what their prayer can accomplish. And let all our hearts in this, as
in every petition, be filled with the assurance that prayer, offered in
loving faith in the living God, will bring certain and abundant answer.
Amen.
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Text
is in the Public Domain.
Candle Photo, Logo, & Layout: Copyright © 2002 S.G.P. All rights reserved.
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Andrew Murray
1828-1917
Author of over 250 books,
he was the minister at the Dutch Reformed Church of
Wellington (South Africa) from 1871 to 1906, and lived there until his
death in 1917.
This statue of Andrew Murray was
erected in Wellington in 1923.
His vision for winning Africa
for Christ led him beyond the borders of Wellington. Missionaries from
Wellington penetrated into the heart of Africa.
He was a
proponent and at the forefront in founding schools both of education for
girls, and of Higher Education for women.
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Copyright
© 2002 S.G.P. All
rights reserved.
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