The "Law of the Harvest" in the Bible isn't a formula for guaranteed success or return on our investment -- it's more of a list of what we don't get.
Didn't sow? Then we don't get to reap.
Didn't plant fig trees? Doesn't matter how much of a green thumb we have - we don't get to harvest figs.
Didn't think far enough ahead and sow early enough? We don't get to harvest in the same season as the sowing and we have to wait to see the real results of our labors, (and sometimes by then it's too late...).
Didn't put in enough time tending to the vineyard? Our reaping is proportional to the sowing -- we don't get to reap as much as if we had spent more time sowing and laboring, and sometimes we don't get the fruit from the "good" olive tree and have to settle for the fruit from the wild one.
What if we want to give to others who have less but haven't sowed/reaped ourselves? We can't give something that we don't have or isn't ours to give, no matter how deeply we feel or how dire the need.
And like all other eternal laws, this one is immutable, so we don't get any exceptions for any reason. Even if we can't do any of these and "would if we could" we still don't get to reap -- we have to depend on the mercy of others who have, and thus no longer have the same lifestyle choices or personal liberties that bringing in a harvest ourselves would bring and are dependent on the free will of others, (hence "beggars can't be choosers").
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