“The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields.”-Luke 10:2
All we have to do is scroll through the news for five minutes and very quickly we see reality — there is so much brokenness, so many needs, a plethora of issues, pains, hurts, and things that need to be done to help our fractured world. Families are hurting. Kids aren’t being parented, mentored, encouraged, or directed toward what is right. Violence is pervasive. Stress is high. War seems to ever be looming… It could be really easy to feel like there’s no hope. There are just too many problems swilrling around us. It makes us ponder, is there anything we can do that will actually make a difference?
Once, when Jesus was preparing the disciples to be sent out into the towns and places He planned for them to visit, He told them these wise words: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields” (Luke 10:2). In His infinite wisdom, Jesus saw the vastness of need, and He saw the lack of workers for the massive need. So what did Jesus instruct them to do? He told them, “Gather up for a white-boarding session! Brainstorm together a twelve step strategy to tackle the problem!” Nope, Jesus didn’t say that. Did Jesus say, “Form a committee to calculate a plan with some slick concepts and tactics to getter done!”? No, He didn’t say that either. What Jesus actually did tell the disciples - and He tells us the same thing today - is to pray. We are to pray! He calls us to ask for God’s help. Jesus said to pray, acknowledging that God is in charge of everything, and to humbly ask Him to send out more workers to the field. The disciples were already going to share about Christ, and it is vital that we go, show, and tell the Good News of Christ. But Jesus made it absolutely clear that the greatest strategy of all to help our world, that has been so fragmented by our sin, is to pray.
Are the needs in our world beyond great? Yes. Is there anything we can do that will actually make a difference? Yes. Let’s pray! Ephesians 6:18 says it this way: “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion...” God, who possesses limitless power and wisdom, can do exceedingly beyond anything we might imagine! So let’s pray and never give up.
Godspeed, friends!
-Scott