In the Old Testament, the various authors often use “sowing and reaping” to describe a right relationship with God, rebellion against God and its results, and God’s grace.
You shall reap what you sow – A Right Relationship.
When God’s people are in right relationship with Him, they live at peace and reap what they sow. (effort yields reward) This would be the natural order of things, and shows the cause-and-effect relationship between actions and their consequences.
If you follow my statutes and keep my commandments and observe them faithfully, I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Lev. 26:3-4
For I am about to new heavens and a new earth….They shall build houses and live in them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat. Isaiah 65:17,21-22
Also see Amos 9:14, and Isaiah 62:8-9.
You shall sow, but not reap – Rebellion and Result
When God’s people rebel against Him, the result is that they sow but do not reap. (effort yields no reward)
But if you will not obey me, and do not observe all these commandments…. You shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it… Your strength shall be spent to no purpose: your land shall not yield its produce, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit. Lev. 26:14, 16, 20
Therefore I have begun to strike you down, making you desolate because of your sins… You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine. Micah 6:13, 15
For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads, it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, foreigners would devour it. Hosea 8:7
Also see: Joel 1:6-7,11-12; Jeremiah 12:13; Nehemiah 9:36-37; Jeremiah 5:17,19, Job 31:7-8
You shall reap what you did not sow – God’s grace
When God’s grace is being extended to His people, they are said to reap what they did not sow. (no effort yields reward)
When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give you – a land with fine large cities that you did not build, houses filed with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant – and when you have eaten your fill, take care that you do not forget the Lord your God. Duet. 6:10-12
I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and towns that you had not built, and you live in them; you eat the fruit of vineyards and olive yards that you did not plant. Now therefore, revere the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Joshua 24:13-14
Restore our fortunes, O Lord… May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves. Psalm 126:4-6
Jesus continued this theme of using sowing and reaping to illustrate God’s grace:
Look at the birds of the air they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Matt 6:26
Do you not say,’ Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘ One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor. John 4:35-38
I pray you are in fight relationship with God so that you can reap what you sow. If not, I pray you restore that relationship. God will grant you His grace and produce a bountiful harvest in your life if you will let Him.
The Victory Garden 