FFF 7:11 (Nov 1961)
Editorial: The Cover
The front cover of this volume pictured a head of wheat.
A beautiful head of wheat! And all from one single grain, hopefully sown.
There are few things guaranteed to the farmer. He sows in hope and IF the seed is good, IF there is rain, IF there is no blight, IF . . . IF .. then he will reap some kind of a harvest.
How much more certain are the eternal things. We read an unconditional guarantee which says, “We SHALL reap . .. if we faint not”. The only thing that prevents a harvest is FAINTING in SOWING.
Now what would cause us to faint in sowing? There could be many reasons. Here are three. We faint in sowing because we fail to reap the fruit we expected. “One soweth and another reapeth”, said Jesus. Sunday School teachers in particular are sometimes discouraged and ready to faint for this reason. Years of sowing, then along comes another and does the reaping.
Failing to rejoice when there is fruit can be a factor that leads to fainting. “. . . He that soweth and he that reapeth MAY rejoice together . . .” Since the joy of the Lord is your strength, it behoves us to be ready to rejoice when there is a time of reaping.
Some times we fail to recognize the fruit when it appears. “Thou sowest not that body that shall be”. For instance the fruit of tribulation is patience. The fruit of suffering for Christ, glory.
So keep at the sowing. “Blessed are ye that sow beside ALL waters” says Isaiah. Little sowing, little fruit. Much sowing inevitably means much fruit. Don’t faint but keep sowing. Dig your hands deeply into the good seed and prayerfully, hopefully, faithfully SOW. Keep at it, for the guarantee stands .. . “We SHALL reap . . . if we faint not”.