The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

Was feeling very burdened today, not knowing entirely why, and was surprised to hear myself pray out loud, "Lord, do not let me miss the harvest."

After I uttered it, I thought to myself, is it even possible, that we should miss the harvest? That was when the Lord reminded me of this verse from Jeremiah 8. "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."

He also reminded me that it is possible that the fields are white unto harvest, and we may miss it altogether. That's why he says in Luke 10:2, the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field.

The blog "A case for God" quotes Dr Neal Chadwick as explaining that in Israel's agricultural economy, there were three main harvests. The barley harvest is the first, and occurred in the spring around the time of Passover. About six weeks later, the wheat harvest would commence at Pentecost, and in the fall, corresponding to the Feast of the Tabernacles, was the fruit harvest.

When the people cried about the harvest being over and summer being gone, they were lamenting that the time for the grain harvests had past and they had not been able to reap the fields. This would mean that they would head into winter without any food supplies. Famine and death would follow.

In the New Testament, the idea of “harvest” is connected with the ingathering of souls into the Kingdom of God. That's part of the significance of the harvest festival of Pentecost when 3,000 people were welcomed into the first church.

Is it possible that the harvest may come and go and we will miss it altogether because of our complacency, or lack of compassion, or lack of urgency? Is it possible we will miss it altogether because of the lack of workers in the harvest field?

The blog "A Case for God" also observes that there is coming a time when God's patience will be exhausted, and He will bring to an end the present age and the world as we know it. It says, "This will bring to a conclusion the harvest, and the summer of opportunity to be saved will be over. In that day, there will be many who will repeat the saying first spoken by Jeremiah's contemporaries, 'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.'"

What a sobering thought. That thought made me cry.

I am praying for my nation Singapore that the Christians among us will see the ripe fields before us, and that we will evangelise those around us. "We must work while it is yet day, for soon night will come, when no one can work." (John 9:4)

For those who do not yet know Jesus as personal Lord and Saviour, Christ has died for you, and he longs for you to  accept his gift of sacrifice by which you will be saved. All we need to do is, “Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, and thou shall be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10)

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." (Hebrews 3:15)