Tuesday, June 28

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READ: Psalm 67

The earth has produced its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
God will bless us,
and all the ends of the earth will fear him. Psalm 67:6–7 (CSB)

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I have lots of great memories of harvest.

Sometimes my great memories are only great because I wasn’t the one to blame.

Blame for what you ask? It’s worth a story.

Harvest was a family affair on the farm. I honestly don’t remember a summer when my dad hired someone from outside of the family to help with harvest while I was living at home – it was always us kids, grandpa, and mom who helped out.

I typically either drove the grain cart on the field or, once Opa retired from active duty, the grain truck. Mary normally operated the combine when she was working on the farm. Dad traded off driving either the combine or grain truck when one of us wasn’t available or needed a change of pace. Most summers, we all took turns on most of the machines used during harvest.

And when my brothers popped in for the summer – or even a few weeks – they would jump in wherever was needed as well.

One year, my dad purchased two new pieces of equipment. The first was a bright red combine, the first for our farm as I recall, he previously only used Gleaners – those AWESOME tinny spaceship-looking things.

It wasn’t a new combine, but it was new for us, and it was sweet.

To keep up with the speed of the new machine, he also purchased a grain cart pulled by a tractor. The grain cart stayed on the field so that the combine never had to stop moving; it could now outpace the grain truck going back and forth from the farmyard.

To truly appreciate this story, you must understand how a farmer thinks.

Farmers live with the harvest in mind. They think about the harvest before they put their seeds in the ground in spring, while the crops are sprouting, drying in drought, drowning in wet years, and immediately after the harvest as well. Harvest never leaves the mind of the farmer. Once the harvest starts, you pull long days praying for dry weather. Any delays can cause handwringing of the worst sort.

We were in a great stretch of warm, dry weather and the wheat harvest was just kicking into high gear when the incident happened. I’m happy to report this is a good memory; I wasn’t to blame!

Sam was home for the summer, and he was working on the farm. He and Mary were the duo in the combine and driving grain cart. I’m not sure who was driving what, but each one left the auger out on the implement they were driving. One new grain cart, one like-new combine, and two augers that met like swords of medieval fencers!

Oh, the horror! Dad was forced to have not one, but TWO augers repaired on beautiful warm and dry days – you know – prime harvest weather.

But accidents like this happened from time to time. And my dad had an astonishing ability to fret and trust God at the same time.

My dad, like the Psalmist in Psalm 67 always felt that God was blessing him – he still does. It is a very optimistic way to live. Don’t get me wrong, Dad wasn’t thrilled about time delays during harvest (or any other time for that matter), but he was very submitted to God with these things – at least that was my impression as a kid.

What about you. Do you fret when God’s pattern is one of blessing?

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New Psalm – Jesus is the reward we are living for. Nothing else. That perspective is the key to seeing God’s blessings in everything. Brian Johnson wrote a great song in 2017 called “Only Jesus,” it reflects this beautiful way of life.