Galatians 6:7
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap.”
This is a law of the universe. One of many. There are physical laws, like gravity. No one doubts it. We can't see the pull, but it's effects are obvious. So are the spiritual laws. The sowing and reaping process is one.
It's based on the farming analogy, which is a physical law. But today's verse is the spiritual cousin. I heard a story of two pastors. One was harsh. When his own difficulties arose, his flock didn't support him and he lost his job. The other pastor was kind and was a true shepherd. When his family struggles arose, the people circled the wagons and supported him. This story had an impact on me years later.
I was raised with a critical family member. Their poison was passed on to me. While I had some kindness and gentleness in me, I also was critical. I felt the reaping of this in my life. In difficulty, some around me weren't on my side. I had actually heard this story of the pastors years earlier. I still didn't apply it to myself at this time. Years after my incident, it hit me that my critical, lack of mercy, traits were what complicated my problems with others.
Today's focus is on sowing and reaping. With the farmers this process can be seen in a few months. With the spiritual sowing and reaping, it can take years. In my case, it took about a decade from when I heard the story of the pastors, lived the incident and another few years until it his me that I was unmerciful. I reaped the judgement I had sown.
This area with me was a blindspot. We all have them. We see them as we live life. As we are in the Bible, God brings up the blindspots. He helps us. Revelation 3:21 speaks of Jesus knocking at the door of our heart. This is certainly referring to the time we first accepted Him into our hearts. I also think it refers to other areas in us. Once He inside, we enjoy His wonderful fellowship. However, there might be an infection in one of the rooms that's causing us pain. He will knock on that door. We may resist particular areas, then the trials related to our stubbornness cause us to yield to Him. He doesn't burst through with "I told you so's", but with gentleness and healing. He'll open the windows to bring in fresh air.
This process of awareness and surrender gets easier and quicker with age and spiritual practice. The more we are immersed in His Word, the greater the opportunity to hear His voice. It's like the radio waves that all around us, yet we are unaware of them. All it takes is to turn on the radio to become aware. So also, the Lord is all around us and wants to connect with us. Hearing and reading His Word as well as being in fellowship with other believers opens the channels to Him.
There are other areas of sowing and reaping that we are aware of and invest in. We are kind, helpful and generous. The Lord sees that and is proud of our efforts. We do these things because it's right. We also know that we are pouring investment into others. We are acting as the Lord's instruments.
I can recall a pastor praying that God will interrupt this process. He was referring to sins that we will choose on occasion. In his description of his repentance, he prayed for God to be merciful and that the results of sin wouldn't come. We do deserve the consequence and will usually get it. However, the Lord can intervene and will do on occasion.
Lord, help us to sow kindness and mercy. Make us aware of our blindspots. Those negative areas where we are sowing things that we will regret. We ask for your mercy and insight. Thank You that you are working towards our good. Help us to do the same.