Our Sickles and the Word of God

Several of the early revelations that the Prophet Joseph received have very similar wording as the Lord called the Saints to be missionaries and declare His word. In four revelations we see this language: “Behold, I am God; give heed unto my word, which is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of both joints and marrow; therefore give heed unto my words. Behold, the field is white already to harvest; therefore, whoso desireth to reap, let him thrust in his sickle with his might, and reap while the day lasts, that he may treasure up for his soul everlasting salvation in the kingdom of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:2-3, 11:2-3, 12:2-3, 14:2-3). Ezra Thayre and Northrop Sweet were similarly told, “Hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, whose word is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow, soul and spirit…. Verily, verily, I say unto you, that the field is white already to harvest; wherefore, thrust in your sickles, and reap with all your might, mind, and strength” (Doctrine and Covenants 33:1,7). The invitation here is two-fold: first we must give heed to the word of God which is powerful and sharp, and then we are to give all our souls to laboring in His kingdom bringing souls to Him. This is line with the direction that Hyrum Smith received: “Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed” (Doctrine and Covenants 11:21). First we seek to obtain the words of God, giving heed to them, and then we can declare those words as we thrust in our sickle.

               I believe these two invitations are related and I realized today that there is an interesting connection between them. The Lord says on the one hand that His word is “sharper than a two-edged sword” and then He invited us to use a sickle, a sharp sword-like instrument used to cut grain. I wonder if He did not mean here to tell us that His word—the sharpest sword there is—is indeed the instrument we should use, the sickle, to do His work. After all, it is ultimately His word that will work to convert and convince others of the truthfulness of the gospel. It is through reading in the scriptures and words of the living prophets that the Spirit can most powerfully speak to us. A slightly different way to look at it might be that we must sharpen our sickle using the sword that is God’s word; our sickle will only be effective if it has been sharpened with the Lord’s two-edged sword. So while certainly the image of thrusting in our sickle implies a great deal of hard work on the individual’s part, what is most important is not the person swinging it but the fact that the Lord’s word has given it power to cut. And of course we aren’t talking about real swords here, for the word of God is more powerful than the sharpest sword: “The preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else” (Alma 31:5). Our ability to “reap” and “treasure up everlasting salvation” ultimately depend on our trusting in the power of the word of God.