He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son,
but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.
Summary: This little proverb about farming has modern-day applications for those who are followers of Jesus.
What kind of father expects his son to gather crops in the summer?
There are several possible answers to this question. The first one that comes to mind is that the father owns the fields and needs help during the harvest. Of course, the harvest in question may belong to the son himself. It may be a community expectation that people help support others by helping with the harvest. Finally, helping with the harvest could be perceived as a moral duty.
In each case, prudence still requires that the harvest be gathered when the crops are ready. It makes no sense to gather them early, and if they are not gathered in time, they will rot in the fields. God’s timing reigns supreme! The crops are ready when they are ready. Man does not determine the time of the harvest, God does.
Prudence understands that there will be a need for food in the future. He who ignores the crops in the field expects someone else to provide for his needs. Sleeping during the harvest and expecting others to do all the work is disgraceful.
In John’s Gospel, chapter four, there is an account of Jesus and some Samaritans. Samaritans were not Jews but had been taught about God by the priests (2 Kings 17: 24-28). They understood enough to know that the God of Israel was to be respected.
When Jesus reveals himself as the Messiah to the woman at the well, she runs back to town to tell all the people about him. The disciples, meanwhile, have been to town and returned, telling no one about Jesus while they were there.
Jesus chides his disciples and points to the crowds coming from town to see Jesus. He says, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4: 35)
Those of us who know the Lord, who have tasted his salvation, are expected to help with the harvest (John 20: 21).
Application: The harvest is waiting…
Food for Thought: What does it mean to “sleep during the harvest” in light of Jesus’ words about the Samaritans in John 4?
What does it mean to “sleep during the harvest” in light of Jesus’ words about the Samaritans in John 4.
That there is a time for everything, that they should not wait anymore. That you shouldn’t thinking that there is still time to do what needs to be done or think that there’s going to be another opportunity for them to do what needs to be done. When a job needs to be done you have to do your part in it. Jesus explains similar things in Matthew 13:1–9.
Tim,
Thank you! I like the reference to Matthew 13: 1-9. Certainly, there is a time for planting and a time for gathering. We are called to do both.
Good devotion again brother. And T, good comment.
If we think about the spiritual harvest – to sleep during the harvest is to neglect the fields that are ripe when it comes to sharing Christ with others. That is both disobedient and tragic.
Thank you, brother Rich.
I think you were the one who opened my eyes to the “harvest” part of the story of the woman at the well. We definitely need to be awake in these days.
I always feel lacking on this subject. I don’t want to “sleep during the harvest” but I’m not sure that I always do my part.
The interesting thing about harvest is that there are multiple harvests, depending on which crop you are getting. You must watch each plant for the signs of being ready from the harvest. You learn the signs, by being taught by someone more experienced… Or for some less fortunate, by trial and error.
A –
Thank you for your openness. I share your feeling about not being sure I am doing the right thing or doing enough.
As you point out, there are multiple harvests, but there are also multiple jobs within the harvest. Some cut the grain, some gather, others tread the grain, and still others sort the wheat from the chaff. (Forgive me if I have overstated this – I am not a farmer!) Still others support those doing work in the field.
Our main task, as I understand it, is to love God above all else and our neighbor as ourselves. (Matt 22: 37-40) If we do this we remain true to God and true to his work for us.
What does it mean to “sleep during the harvest” in light of Jesus’ words about the Samaritans in John 4?
I went back and read John 4, and noticed that in v10 & v22 Jesus talks about “knowing.” (“If you knew the gift of God…” & “You Samaritans worship what you do not know…”). As believers, as R and T and A have all said, we are called to share God’s message with everyone. People don’t know what they don’t know, and we as believers need to share the gift God has given us. Going back to Proverbs, the second son is disgraceful because he knows it is time for harvest, yet chooses to sleep anyway. As believers, we too know the harvest time is at hand. We are literally in the time period between Christ’s first and second coming. This is the time of the harvest! We have to choose to participate in the harvest, it won’t happen automatically. The disciples in John 4 are a good example of this. They went into town and didn’t speak a word of the fact that they were with Jesus.
I also like how Christ spoke of teamwork in the fields.
John 4: 36-38 “Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Everyone should spend time in the field working on the harvest, some plant and some reap. In the end we are working toward the same thing: bringing God’s Word to those that do not know. To choose instead to be asleep is truly disgraceful.
Chris,
Thank you for your thoughtful words! There is truly plenty of work for everyone, and many types of work to do. Ours is not to do what God has given others to do, but to do what he has given us to do.
This kind of makes me think about conversation we were having last night a Bible study about the people that only show up to church at Easter and at Christmas time… Even though it is frustrating to some, if God can plant the seed and we can love on them as brother Rich said, maybe they can be turned ripe for harvesting and accept the Lord is their savior and start coming more and more.
I also think a lot about how deprived spiritually a lot of people in the field of recovery are and how it is important to do my part to participate in the harvest by sharing my message and helping spread the word I’m planning the seed
Phill,
You have hit on something that is so important! Sharing ourselves with others. More to the point, sharing the Lord in us with others. Thank you for the encouragement! 🙂
Great reminder
Thanks, Jim!
04-14-2022, Proverbs 10:5, What does it mean to “sleep during the harvest” in light of Jesus’ words about the Samaritans in John 4?
Jesus stopped at Jacobs well in Samaria. His disciples went into town to buy food, while He engaged in conversation with a woman who was looked down upon because she had been married to 5 men and was now unmarried, living with a 6th man. Jesus led their conversation to her spiritual relationship with God and revealed himself as the Messiah.
The woman became excited, left her water jar and went back to town, told all about Jesus. They returned to the well with her to hear for themselves.
“His disciples returned, did not ask about His talking with the women, but urged Him to eat some of the food they had bought.”
Many Samaritans from the town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony, and they asked Him to stay. Jesus stayed 2 more days and because of His words, “ many more became believers.”
Neither Jesus or the Samaritan woman ’Slept during the Harvest in this town.” The only words written about the disciples, describe their going into town to buy food, and urging Jesus to eat.
Believers remain on earth to live alert to those God will bring to us just as He brought the Samaritan woman to Christ, John 4:7, and later the townspeople who asked Him to stay. John 4:30, 4:40. Allow Christ in us to minister to all who are convicted by the Holy Spirit, John 16:8-11 by expressing His love for them, no matter who they are or what they have done.
Amen, brother!
“No matter who!”