3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Weeding our garden – one of those relentless, neverending tasks – but necessary, if we want to have a flourishing garden. While I have read this verse multiple times before, this time several new things stuck out to me – I love that when God does that, don’t you?
First, what kind of seeds are we planting? The passage above does not mention the quality of the seed, but in one instance, in just the right medium, the seed grew and increased abundantly. Are we planting seeds that are worthy of the soil? When the opportunity comes are we prepared in season and out of season to plant seeds that glorify God, or are we planting halfheartedly, investing seeds that are low in quality? The farmer kept planting, even when he was not successful.
There are so many obstacles impeding the growth of our seeds, it can be discouraging when we sow what we deeemed a good seed and it fails to produce good fruit. We can have seemingly perfect seeds, but the soil is either just not ready due to hardness of hearts, “surfacey” faith or an insufficient root in the Word of God, which are the weeds that can hinder the soil’s ability to receive that seed. Don’t give up or stop sowing . . . God is at work in the failed seeds and the successful ones. Who knows? Later on you might even have a volunteer plant flourishing from an earlier seed you planted.
Don’t grow weary, wherever God has you planted. He wants to use you and as long as our hearts are yielded to Him, He will purify us so we can sow His Word effectively in His time. May we be mindful of the weeds in our lives and in others and diligent to pull them out while they are small, lest they become large and we do not see the beauty they are hiding.
God, helps us to never tire of seeking You and studying Your word, that we may share it with others who are desperately needing it!