Give Ear: Wisdom from the Harvest Field
November 16, 2022 · 6:54 · Watch on YouTube ↗
These notes - summary, key points, and highlighted thoughts - were generated by AI from the recording and are not the preacher’s exact words.
Summary
The preacher opens with praise and thanksgiving, recalling the recent Harvest Festival when the congregation remembered how God has blessed them year after year. Looking ahead to the national day of Thanksgiving, he trusts that the Lord will keep his hand of blessing resting upon his people.
Turning to the prophet Isaiah, chapter 28 from verse 23, he highlights God's appeal: give ear, hear my voice, and pay close attention to what I am about to say. God deliberately calls his people to sharpen their attention before he begins to teach them.
He then unfolds the picture of the farmer. The plowman does not plow endlessly without purpose; once the ground is leveled, he sows each seed - nigella, cumin, wheat, and barley - in its proper place. From this ordinary, orderly work the Lord begins to draw an important lesson about the wisdom he himself gives.
Key Points
- Begin every gathering with thanksgiving, remembering God's faithful blessing year after year
- God invites us to give ear and truly listen before he teaches us
- Attentiveness to God's voice is the starting point of spiritual understanding
- The farmer plows, levels, and sows with purpose, never aimlessly
- Each kind of seed has its proper place and season
- Even ordinary, orderly work reflects wisdom that God himself supplies
- Trust that the God who blesses the harvest keeps his hand upon his people
Devotional
Before God teaches us anything, he asks us to give ear and truly listen. In a season of harvest and thanksgiving it is easy to enjoy the gifts yet miss the voice of the Giver. Like the farmer who plows, levels, and plants each seed in its place, we are invited to live with quiet, prayerful order, trusting the wisdom God provides for every task. Pause today and ask the Lord to sharpen your attention, so that gratitude grows into obedience. The same hand that blessed this year's harvest is still resting upon you.
We give glory to our Lord for all his bounty and mercy.
Give ear and hear my voice; pay attention to what I am about to say.
The farmer sows each seed in its proper place, never by chance.
