God has established some natural principles in His universe that are unbending. Certain things happen with consistent regularity. When Isaac Newton observed an apple falling from a tree, it struck him that an apple never fell upwards; it was always being pulled downward. He recognized the law of gravity and so, as we have heard many times, “What goes up must come down.” Jump off a ten-story building and you will quickly learn that the law of gravity is inflexible.

Another law that we find equally inflexible is the second law of thermodynamics. The second law of thermodynamics simply stated means that everything is falling apart; it is a universal law of decay. Everything ages and wears out, not just our clothes, houses, and bodies, but everything in the universe.

Just as there are laws of nature that govern the universe, there are also moral and spiritual laws that God has written into His creation. Paul stated one such law in Galatians 6:7: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

We know that this is certainly true in agriculture. If you plant forty acres of corn, you will not reap forty acres of watermelons. It is an absolute impossibility! We understand the law of sowing and reaping with trees, and we understand it with crops, but it is interesting how hard that is to understand in life.

I can’t tell you how many people I have talked with who don’t understand why things are happening to them. They say, “Why is this happening in my marriage? Why is this happening in my family? Why is this happening in my finances?” Everything is falling apart for them, and it just doesn’t dawn on them that they are reaping what they have sown. They have been sowing for years, so why does it surprise them when they come to reap? It is simple cause and effect.

As a matter of fact, in those times people often get angry with God. They want to know, “Where is God, and why does it have to be this way?”—as if it is all God’s fault. But God has said what you sow is what you are going to reap. Surely it is for this reason then that Paul inserts words of warning as he states this universal law: “Be not deceived.”

The language reminds us of the Garden of Eden where God in so many words instructed Adam about this law of sowing and reaping. Regarding eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God told Adam, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17). It was as if the Lord said, “Adam, if you sow the seeds of rebellion, disobedience, and dishonesty, you will reap a harvest.” What a miserable harvest it has been! And yet thousands of years of wretchedness have not prevented men from sowing more rebellion and disobedience.

One writer said, “Too many believers are sowing wild oats throughout the week and then going to church on Sunday and praying for a crop failure.” 

To be continued: “Six Aspects of the Universal Law of the Harvest”