Lesson 29: Prayer provides Laborers, part 1
Matthew 9:37-38 - Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
The Lord frequently taught His disciples that they must pray, and how; but seldom what to pray. This he left to their sense of need, and the leading of the Spirit. But here we have one thing He expressly enjoins them to remember: in view of the plentiful harvest, and the need of reapers, they must cry to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers. Just as in the parable of the friend at midnight, He would have them understand that prayer is not to be selfish; so here it is the power through which blessing can come to others. The Father is Lord of the harvest; when we pray for the Holy Spirit, we must pray for Him to prepare and send forth laborers for the work.
Strange, is it not, that He should ask His disciples to pray for this? And could He not pray Himself? And would not one prayer of His accomplish more than a thousand of theirs? And God, the Lord of the harvest, did He not see the need? And would not He, in His own good time, send forth laborers without their prayer? Such questions lead us up to the deepest mysteries of prayer, and its power in the Kingdom of God. The answer to such questions will convince us that prayer is indeed a power on which the ingathering of the harvest and the coming of the Kingdom do in very truth depend.
Prayer is no form or show. The Lord Jesus was Himself the truth; everything He spoke was the deepest truth. It was when (see ver. 36) “He saw the multitude, and was moved with compassion on them, because they were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd,” that He called on the disciples to pray for laborers to be sent among them. He did so because He really believed that their prayer was needed, and would help.
The veil which so hides the invisible world from us was wonderfully transparent to the holy human soul of Jesus. He had looked long and deep and far into the hidden connection of cause and effect in the spirit world. He had marked in God’s Word how, when God called men like Abraham and Moses, Joshua and Samuel and Daniel, and given them authority over men in His name, He had at the same time given them authority and right to call in the powers of heaven to their aid as they needed them. He knew that as to these men of old, and to Himself for a time, here upon earth, the work of God had been entrusted, so it was now about to pass over into the hands of His disciples. He knew that when this work should be given in charge to them, it would not be a mere matter of form or show, but that on them, and their being faithful or unfaithful, the success of the work would actually depend. As a single individual, within the limitations of a human body and a human life, Jesus feels how little a short visit can accomplish among these wandering sheep He sees around Him, and He longs for help to have them properly cared for. And so He tells His disciples now to begin and pray, and when they have taken over the work from Him on earth, to make this one of the chief petitions in their prayer: That the Lord of the harvest Himself would send forth laborers into His harvest. The God who entrusted them with the work, and made it to such a large extent dependent on them, gives them authority to apply to Him for laborers to help, and makes the supply dependent on their prayer.
Prayer: Oh Lord, here am I, send me into Your harvest.