Don't Forget to Harvest Spiritual Food
It’s quite amazing that God made our bodies where they require nourishment in the form of food. Another amazing feature of the way God set things up in the world is that humans have to grow their own food. We’re so used to our parents going to the store and buying meats and vegetables that we may not remember that someone had to grow the vegetables and raise the animals to provide us with food.
The first person in history to enjoy harvest was the first person—Adam. After God created Adam, He “took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Under the Law of Moses, God instructed the Israelites to observe three feasts every year. One of those feasts was the Feast of Harvest (or Firstfruits) which took place at the beginning of the harvest. Seven weeks after the Feast of Harvest, the Israelites observed another feast given by God—the Feast of Ingathering (or Booths), when they gathered the grain they had grown (Exodus 23:16). The Israelites used these feasts to thank God for blessing them with the food that came from their land. Every time we eat food, we ought to be reminded that God is the One Who provides us with the food and drink that we need to stay alive. Are you thankful for the food God gives you?
When Paul went to Lystra and met a crowd of people that believed in many gods instead of the one true God, he told them that the one true God “did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17). God is the one who gives us our food at harvest. It is “He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food” (2 Corinthians 9:10). And God assures us that this process will continue to the end of the world: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22).
But always remember: even though you get to enjoy many wonderful foods and drinks that taste so good, there is something in life that is far more important. Jesus reminded the multitudes of this fact: “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you” (John 6:27). He also said: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
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