God; A Diligent Farmer

This morning as I sat in my seat at Snyder Memorial I was reminded of some simple but deep truths.  As the Rev. John Cook brought his message today he preached on the Parable of the 4 Soils which comes from the book of Matthew 13.  As a person with an agricultural background this is just one of those sermons that just simply makes sense.  Parables were written to give instruction through the form of a story.  These stories come to us like a child curled up in a Grandparents lap; listening to stories of old and searching for the moral. In reading this parable I was taken back to those fond memories, so today I curled up in Jesus' lap and listened.  

In the parable as the farmer scatters his seed he is taking a calculated risk.  In those days he would have scattered his seed as much as he could and then go back and sew or plow it in.  This risk leads to the unfruitfulness of some of the seed he scatters but he has the expectation that there will be a harvest.  The first place being the path where crows descend and eat the seed.  The next seeds fall on the rocky places where the soil is shallow and while the seed can germinate it quickly withers as no roots can develop.  Some of the seeds then fall upon the thorns where they were eventually choked out.  Lastly, some of the seed fell upon good soil producing a hundred, sixty or thirty fold.  

As I listened, these soils were applied to my life.  Along my journey I can see myself in each of these places.  You see just as the seed on the path the ground was hard and the things of the world (crows) quickly swooped in and took the seeds away.  For many, just as myself this looked like a hardened heart.  Whether it was relationships, hardships, or ignorance something kept those seeds away from penetrating my heart.  The truth of the matter is that the truth and love of Christ was suppressed by the hardness of the heart.

When our hardened hearts can be cracked the we allow the opportunity for a seed to germinate.  But quickly we become the primary of target of Satan.  You see it is not far below that we still have the remnants of our broken heart.  Our relationship with Christ or others lacks depth and it quickly fades.  

Once the seeds of our life are established it is the distractions and misdirected priorities that we must be on the lookout for.  For it is these that threaten to choke out the faith we do have.  Finally, we reach a point where our seed is established enough to begin reproducing for a new life.  In order for this to happen our hearts and minds must be open and receptive to the Word of the Lord.  For it is only the love of God that can break open our hardened hearts.  We must also be patient in our faith, as immediate growth can be exciting to see but does not last just as the seed in the rocks.  

My prayer this week is that you will allow God to be a diligent farmer and tend the soils of your heart. Breaking ground where necessary, scaring away the crows and thinning the thorns.