Luke 10

Scripture

Luke 10:2-3

2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

Observation - What does it say?

Jesus was getting ready to go into different towns and villages to minister to people. In preparation, Jesus gathered a larger group of his disciples, not just the 12, but 72 others.  And he told them that the harvest was plentiful but the workers were few. In other words, there are many who are ripe and ready to receive the good news of salvation and accept Jesus. But the problem was a shortage of laborers who would go to them and share the good news. 

Jesus tells them 2 ways they can be a part of the solution: 1. Pray for God to send laborers into the harvest field. 2. Go themselves into the harvest field.

Understanding - What does it mean?

Pray and Go!

Often when I have heard this verse quoted, it’s only verse 2. There is a need for laborers so pray for God to raise some up and send them out. What stood out to me this time reading it is that is only half of Jesus’s command to his disciples. Don’t just pray, but go yourself! 

Often times I become aware of a need and think, “God, someone should do something about this.” There is nothing wrong with asking God to raise someone up to deal with it. Jesus actually commands us to ask him. But what I’m realizing more and more is that any need or problem I become aware of, God is usually allowing me to see it because he wants me to be part of the solution! 

Life Application

Don’t just pray for the solution, allow God to use me to be the solution.

God, forgive me for praying for someone else to fix things that you’ve called me to fix. Forgive me for the times I ask for a harvest and fail to go, fail to share with the people in my life. Help us to see ourselves as part of the solution and to make ourselves available not just to pray but to go. Amen. 

- Levi Thompson