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Harvest Festival – a festival of thanksgiving, but also a day where we can again place our confidence and trust in God, and be newly strengthened by His wonderful creation. “He had let it grow again” is easily said. Don’t we say that it’s entirely natural, a matter of course, that May follows December? The earth remains under the word given at Creation, that it would be blessed; just as we also need His natural blessings to sustain us. God’s blessing – what is that, one may ask? God’s blessings are God’s blessings and more one cannot say. Just as light is light, spirit is spirit, so God is God. Just as one is unable to grasp sunlight in one’s hands, so too, we can but only grasp this, His blessings, to a limited extent.

The widow of Zarephath, whom the Prophet Elijah met, had her faith put to the test; as she thought, “The flour and oil, that I still have, and which I need for my son and myself, is just enough for us”, but as she shared with Elijah, she noticed, “We have enough for us and the stranger – God provides what we need.” The widow’s trust was rewarded. It was a mystical blessing, in as much as “the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse oil fail,” according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Elijah. God does not offer His miracles as a spectacle, but only when needed. It happened to the people of Israel, as they wandered in the desert. Where nothing could be planted or harvested, God provided for His people in miraculous ways. But as they came into Canaan, the manna stopped. God provided only as long as His help was required. Once the garden and field was in order again, and newly sown and harvested, the miraculous provision in the widow’s house, Zarephath also stopped.

Didn’t we also experience God’s miraculous provision, in our want and misery after the war? God is always ready and happy to offer and give to His peace, and thanks be to Him, that still today, He can offer relief and help when we are in need. We should in confidence await his mystical blessing in times of need or in difficult circumstances or dilemmas.

But, if one can provide for himself through his work, one cannot expect miracles from God. How often do we hear, “Oh, help me to pray, that things might be better for me.” This request is not in times of sickness or spiritual need, but simply when one desires more than is necessary for everyday needs. We should bear in mind, that we should not await God’s miracles, for what we ourselves can do.

When we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” it does not mean that we should sit with folded hands and wait for God to provide it. On the contrary, we should ask for His blessing on our daily work, so that we are capable of earning our daily bread, as the saying goes: “Pray as though all work is in vain, and work as though prayer avails nothing,” above all, we can expect great things from God in relation to the things which we ourselves, are incapable of.

The Harvest Festival will be of help to us when we recognize His blessings, in times of need, as well as in times of plenty. We must further trust in Him as Creator and be willing to offer an open hand to our fellow man. Finally, we refer not only to earthly blessings, but to all blessings. Here to we read in Matthew 10:42, “And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones, a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.”