Pray Earnestly

Jean Francois Millet, The Gleaners, 1857

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.” 

Matthew 9:37-38

I woke up this morning thinking of this verse and have been mulling over it since.  I am not so much dwelling on the part about the harvest being plentiful but that section on prayer.  Notice that Jesus  said "...therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."   He did not say "...therefore go send out laborers into the harvest."  Don't you think, more often than not, that we go about our activities (especially supposedly Christian activities), planning on how things should get done, then carrying them out, and along the way quickly whispering a prayer, using it like a lucky charm so that the things we have planned will go well?  We are more inclined to plan, do and then maybe pray.  In complete reversal of what Jesus is teaching in this passage. Think about it, how many times have we heard this passage used as an endorsement to send out Christian workers, emphasizing on the sending and not even touching on the praying!

I wonder what it would be like if when I see a need or have a concern that I first pray earnestly to the Lord of the situation to send his help into the situation...to pray earnestly and patiently seek his will.  I have to admit that it would be quite hard for me to do.  Quite counter-intuitive.  But I can certainly start by praying earnestly for the Holy Spirit to work that mindset so taught by our Lord Jesus into my being.