“I struck you with blight and mildew and hail in all the labors of your hands” (Haggai 2:17)

For the farmer, blight and hail and mildew on standing crops meant disaster. For the saint who trusts that everything is caused or allowed by God, a crop failure, while disappointing, is an occasion for him to examine himself. He asks, “Lord, is there something you want me to change?”

The Apostle Paul saw himself as a laborer in God’s field. “Neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field” (1 Corinthians 3:7-9).
Laborers in the Lord’s field sometimes see blight. Just when the crop seems to be growing nicely, blight appears. There seems to be many conversions, and then, a general apathy, worldliness, or hardness of heart stops the work! There may be no open sin, but there’s a lack of sincerity, and when most so-called, “decisions for Christ” endure only for a while, or are unfruitful (Matthew 13:21-22), it’s time for ministers to seek God and return to Biblical evidence of salvation.

We constantly pray that blight will stay away from the crop, while we guard against spiritual pride and laziness. But blight can attack our own hearts, making us take the easy path of false conversions, instead of making disciples. May it please the great Husbandman to prevent this evil. Shine, blessed Sun of Righteousness, and drive the blight away.