Deuteronomy 24:19-21 When you cut down your harvest in your field, and have forgot a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to fetch it… This beautiful passage speaks of the harvest, of the olive, and of the grape. You say, "Well, I am not a farmer, I know nothing of the harvest. Olives do not grow in this cold country. And it is only a few people in England who can grow grapes. What is the meaning of this?" I will tell you what it means, because when God tells us to deal in this way with the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, He means us to do it. You know what the harvest means. It was the in-gathering of the corn, and you know what that was for — to be made into bread. And you know what bread was for — to give strength. The olive was a symbol of fruitfulness, and the grape typified joy. So that the three things God teaches us here to do, are to give strength and peace and joy to the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. How can we do that? Turn to Proverbs 12:25, and let us see how we can do it for the Master. (I am going to take the very lowest thing it is possible for a child of God to do. I am not going to speak to those who can give their hundreds and thousands of pounds and be none the poorer; but let the very poorest of us here today see if we cannot be the means of bringing strength and peace and joy to those who need it.) "Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop." We all know that is true. What is going to make it glad? A fifty-pound note? No! "But a good word maketh it glad." It is not only the wealth or the riches that God speaks about. Here it is a kind, loving word, "a good word," that makes the heart glad. I was thinking only today about the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, and about the works, the miracles of Christ. Why, the Lord Jesus accomplished more by His words than by His miracles. And He wants us to be imitators of Him. When He was here He had no long purse, but He had a kind word for everybody except the self-satisfied, the self-righteous, the Scribes and Pharisees. We too can give these and be none the poorer for it. Turn to Isaiah 50:4: "The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary." Perhaps you say, "Oh, I would like to have the tongue of the learned to show people how clever I am! The Lord Jesus had "the tongue of the learned" for one purpose, and that was to know how to speak a word in season to him that was weary. Here again it is the word; it is not the power or the miracle. Read also in Colossians 3:17: "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him." Has it ever struck you that this is a very strange way of putting it, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed? We may be disposed to think it ought to have been, "Whatsoever ye say in word or do in deed." But it is not so: "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed." As if God said, "Every word you speak for Me is a good work." And what we want is to have "the tongue of the learned," to know how to speak a word to those that are weary. If we want to be happy, if we want to be joyful and glad, let us try to make others glad. Let us try to give them strength and peace and joy. The most miserable man here today is the man who lives for self; the happiest man is the one who forgets self, and lives for others. What a sweet thing it is to know that God has told us, "Whatsoever ye do in word." Up yonder He is keeping a record of it. (H. Moorhouse.). Parallel Verses KJV: When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. |
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