Luke 10:2

Jesus describes the spiritual state of the world as a vast harvest field ready to be gathered, but with too few workers to bring it in. He says this as He sends out seventy disciples ahead of Him into the towns He plans to visit. The image is one of opportunity and urgency: many people are ready to receive the good news, but laborers are in short supply.

What Jesus tells His followers to do in response is striking. He does not first say, "Go work harder," though that comes next. He says, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers." The harvest belongs to God -- He is the Lord of the harvest -- and so the first step is to ask Him to raise up and send out workers. There is humility here: the work is too great for human effort alone, and it depends on God's provision. Yet there is also a beautiful irony, for the very ones told to pray for laborers are then sent out as laborers themselves. Prayer and action go together. This verse calls every follower of Christ both to see the world as a ripe harvest field and to take up the twofold response of praying earnestly for more workers and being willing to become one.