Caution! Seedtime and Harvest. Careful with the seeds!
"And he
spake to them many things in parables, saying, Behold, the
sower went forth to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell by
the way side, and the birds came and devoured them: and
others fell upon the rocky places, where they had not much
earth: and straightway they sprang up, because they had no
deepness of earth: and when the sun was risen, they were
scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
And others fell upon the thorns; and the thorns grew up and
choked them: and others fell upon the good ground, and
yielded fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
He that hath ears, let him hear." (Mat 13:3 -9)
Perhaps you have read the text many times and you have
discovered there is nothing new in reading it from the first
time. I always ask God questions about His word since it is,
indeed, His word. I figure HE will give the best
answer and just the right way to answer me. When seeking Him
one day through His word I came upon this text and I wanted
to share what I believe God shared with me.
1. At
one point in our lives we all have had seed sown into our
lives that fell among every instance of illustration in this
parable. We have all had the word choked out by the thorns
in our lives and experienced the seeds withering away from
sun scorching them from by perhaps poor timing or
unprotected. We have all had seed in our life that fell by
the way side because of one reason or another as well as in
in the rocky places and where there was a lack of depth or
where the fouls of the air ate it.
2. We
all have had to be cultivated in our life to get the the
good ground to yield fruit.
3.
The cultivation process does not necessarily look pretty to
the outsider nor does it “feel” so good. The point is it is
a process and it is what it takes to yield fruit. I don’t
know about you but I see someone who doesn’t look so good in
the cultivation process and often what to help them look
good and talk more spiritual. I have put more rocks back in
and pushed them back into place or tried to put the soil
like it was and what did it profit. If you look upon a
farmers field or some ground that has never been cultivated
you will notice all of the above: You will notice thorns and
thistles, rocks, fowls, sun etc but if you note the process
that it takes to cultivate the land it will also yield fruit
after the ground had been turned over and over until every
rock is gone and the hard ground is broke up. It takes on
another process of getting all the weeds out so that it
doesn’t choke out the precious seed of the farmer.
As I pondered
and looked upon the fields at my grandparents house that
day, I asked God about this. I realized I was looking
at, Yes, manure! Manure being spread. "Oh Lord, that
stinks," I said. "Why manure? Surely that can’t be
scriptural!"
But when I asked my knowledgeable friends about the manure
they told me that it held moisture in the ground and also it
would open the seed casing for it to grow.
There are no short cuts for fruit bearing. The process is an
unsightly scene and sometimes don’t smell good. God showed
me to stop trying to clean off the manure that protects the
seeds not only in my own life but also in others. Gods Word
tells me not to judge even myself. That is God’s job and
that may be a precious seed going through the process before
it can bear the fruit.
"He that hath ears, let him hear." (Matt. 13: 9)
Melanie J. Ingalls 10/06/02