“When you enter the land and plant fruit trees, leave the fruit unharvested for the first three years and consider it forbidden. In the fourth year the entire crop will be devoted to the Lord as an outburst of praise” (Leviticus 19:23-24 NLT).
I have to tell you, the very thought of this practice humbles and excites me.
Imagine digging the holes, planting the seeds or seedlings, watering on a daily basis. Picture yourself watching and waiting for the first spring that the trees are covered with blossoms. And the first ripe fruits hanging on the branches?
And picture yourself waiting through three harvests of the fruit of your labor. Can you see yourself sitting among the fruit trees as the over-ripe fruit drops off the branches and hits the ground?
And the fourth year? Bushels of fruit picked, carried to the church house and left there for the priests to use or to be consumed by fire as an offering?
All that waiting?
Maybe you don’t see your waiting and commitment as anything other than what it is. But friend, your determination to see Him through is an outburst of praise on your part, Working hard and pushing the outcomes into His hands is a form of praise—some of the highest praise He can recieve.
So wait it out. Don’t throw in the towel. Keep hoeing out the weeds. Continue carrying the watering cans. Watch as the fruit of your efforts fall wastefully on the ground at times. And when the huge harvest comes in—carry the baskets of praise to our Creator.
Malinda Edgell
Illinois
PRAY TOGETHER: Witnessing is often easier with strangers, but don’t neglect family. Pray about sending a card to a relative that seems unreachable.
