A biographer of the Duke of Windsor, Alistair Cooke, remarks, "The Duke was at his best when the going was good." Aren't we all? Is that true of your faith? We believe in God when things are going well, but give us a few problems, a disappointment or two, and we begin to doubt.

But the parable is saying to us: God is in charge of the harvest, hang in there, because things will work out in God's way…