Praise Creates The Harvest

 

God established Pentecost as a single-day feast to signify the urgency of the harvest season. Exodus 23:16 refers to Pentecost as “the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of your labors which you have sown in the field.” 

Harvest demands your complete attention. Jewish farmers would swiftly gather the first fruits of the harvest, celebrate Pentecost in Jerusalem, and then return to their fields to complete the harvest before time ran out.

The fifty day period between Passover and Pentecost is called the Omer. The counting of the Omer is not just a time of waiting. It’s a time of worship. Psalm 67, the song of the Omer, is recited throughout the fifty day period. This is a psalm of blessing, harvest, and honoring the Lord. Each day is one of worship and preparing the heart for the harvest that is coming. Praise takes the worshiper from Passover to Pentecost.

“Let the peoples praise You, O God;
 Let all the peoples praise You.
Then the earth shall yield her increase;
 God, our own God, shall bless us.
 God shall bless us,
 And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.”
(Psalm 67:5-7)

The message of these verses is straightforward. When the people praise the Lord, the earth yields her increase. Praise doesn’t just usher you into the harvest; praise creates the harvest. We don’t approach Pentecost by stoically waiting for God to prove Himself; we praise our way to Pentecost, understanding He already has. 

After the Ascension, the disciples didn’t spend their days in somber subdued prayer. Luke 24:52-53 states that they returned to Jerusalem with immense joy and were constantly praising God in the temple. The upper room where they gathered was a room of praise and worship. The disciples weren’t grieving the loss of Jesus in their lives; they were praising God who had promised to send the Holy Spirit. They understood the way to receive the promise was through praise.

Praise isn’t responding to the promise after it has come, but rather the way to set the stage for its arrival. The disciples praised for ten days, and then the Holy Spirit fell as a mighty rushing wind, filling the room where they waited. A worshiper who has sensed the atmosphere change in a room knows what this means. The Holy Spirit falls on a gathering that has been in praise long enough to make room for Him. 

Are you praising the Lord each day, preparing your heart for the promise of Pentecost? Is your praise enough for the harvest you anticipate?

“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15).

Praising the Lord is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to Him! Praise creates the harvest. God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3).