Pray for Helpers

Matthew 9:35-38 There is something about being in the middle of where people are hurting and struggling to even survive, that gives a whole different perspective on what is happening. From a distance we see that if people quit being lazy and go out and get a job or throw so and so out of their house then things would go great for them and their problems would all go away. Somehow when one is in the middle of the situation the solution is not quite that simple. I believe that this is where Jesus was coming from in this passage of scripture. When He was in the streets with the common people who were hungry for the truth He was teaching and were so needy and sick and crippled and possessed and just plain tired from the rat race, His heart went out to them. He saw them as sheep without a shepherd. Sure, they had the synagogues, and the religious leaders; but what they were dishing out didn’t even begin to touch the people were they were really needy. He gave them the truth and healed all their sicknesses and diseases. Even Jesus saw the task as overwhelming. He saw the people as a huge field of wheat on a hot day with heads full and light brown. When the combines should be all lined up at the edge of the field, no one was there to operate them. Jesus’ response to His disciples was, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore to send out workers into His harvest field." One might ask, “If it is His harvest field and He is the Lord of the harvest, then why doesn’t He take care of that detail Himself?" For His own reasons He has placed that responsibility in our hands. We need to see the overwhelming task and appeal to the Lord of the harvest for more workers to help us. We first need to pray that God would open the eyes of our heart to see the ripeness of the harvest and then at the same time we are harvesting, pray for more workers.