Daily life with Jesus by Grahame Howard: You reap what you sow

Monday 18 May 2020

You reap what you sow

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." Galatians 6:7. NKJV

We bear the consequences of our choices for a long time, either for good or for bad. The choices we make today, will affect what happens tomorrow. For example, we decide to emigrate to Australia but years later, regret that we didn't spend time with our parents who have since died. We may also turn down a life-changing job that could have given us a very good lifestyle and then wish that we had said yes. Our choices affect our future. What we sow, we will reap in our lives.

Esau sold his birthright to his brother Jacob because he was hungry and couldn't resist the smell of the goat stew that Jacob had cooked. The red meat was so appealing to his hunger base. Whether he was saying it just to gain a quick, delicious meal we'll never know; but he sold it and then began to despise it as Jacob received the blessing, after lying to his father, Issac, pretending to be Esau.

Years later, Jacob's sons went out to look for their sheep and Jacob sent his favourite son, Joseph to find them. Jacob had given him an expensive coat of many colours, made of goat skin. The brothers being extremely jealous of Joseph, eventually sold him into slavery. They then took his special coat and saturated it in goat's blood and gave it Jacob on their return. He obviously believed that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. The interesting thing here is, Jacob had used a goat for his stew to take Esau's birthright. Now, he received Joseph's goat skin coat, covered in goat's blood. He had sown 'goat' stew and reaped 'goat's blood'. What you sow you reap regardless of the time limit.

Jacob had lied to his father - a sin. Numbers 32:33 says, 'You have sinned against the LORD, and be sure, your sin will find you out.' If you lie, it's a sin and you will be found out even if it is ages before you do. Some marital partners, commit adultery, betraying their marriage covenant. They may think that are getting away with it, but one day, it will come to the light. What you reap you will sow and it can be very costly.

Sowing and reaping is much more than giving a tithe and offering, it is a vast area and we need to be wary of what we do and say. We can sow bad words against someone but we cannot get away with any of it:

'A man's stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; from the produce of his lips he shall be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.' Proverbs 18:20-21

Let us be careful what we do and what we say because, it can come back and bite us, extremely hard.