“As the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it might give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth. It shall not return to Me void (empty, fruitless), but it shall accomplish what I please; and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10,11)
In rainfall and snowfall, God’s power works to bring about His purposes, providing for the future (seed for sowing), as well as the present (bread for eating).
Likewise, God’s spoken word from Heaven does His will on earth in what it accomplishes in the softened soil of responsive human hearts – salvation being its first fruit. God takes pleasure in what His word accomplishes. “Bread for the eater”, spiritually speaking, is “daily bread” for the Christian who lives by “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” (Every rhema – every word that God is speaking to your heart.) There’s also “seed for the sower” – words for planting in the lives of others.
With personal needs met, the emphasis moves to reproduction. Who receives good news and doesn’t want to spread it? The satisfied eater becomes the helpful sower, sowing the seed of God’s word in the soil of human hearts. (Mark 4:3,14)
God’s word doesn’t begin in heaven and end on earth; it is cyclical: beginning in heaven, working on earth, and returning to Him in the form of praise and worship. Rain and snow do not return to their source in the same form – they evaporate, only to descend again as rain and snow, producing on earth, and evaporating again. But although their form changes, the cycle itself never ceases. Likewise, the receiver of the gospel of salvation becomes a giver, bringing salvation to others and praise to God, and then becomes a receiver again. (Ecclesiastes 1:4-7)
As sowing and reaping is cyclical, so too is giving and receiving. Encouraging the church at Corinth to be generous in giving, the apostle Paul wrote, “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully shall reap bountifully.” (2 Corinthians 9:6)
The outcome of the Corinthian church’s generosity was “thanksgiving to God”. Those who received glorified God for the obedience of those who had given, and prayed for them. (1 Corinthians 9:11-14) Life is meant to be a wonderful and endless cycle of receiving, giving, praising, receiving, giving, praising… Have you been asking God to meet your needs? Get into His endless cycle of giving and receiving!