Day
4- Mark chapter 4
Scripture- Mark 4: 3 “Listen! A
farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell
along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places,
where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was
shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they
withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew
up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed
fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying
thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
9
Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
10
When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the
parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to
you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,
“‘they
may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise
they might turn and be forgiven!’ ”
13
Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you
understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like
seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan
comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown
on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since
they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution
comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed
sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the
deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the
word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the
word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred
times what was sown.”
Observation- I have always thought of this verse as being
about whether one is ready to receive the gospel and be born again, but today I
realized that when we meet together on Sunday and actually every day of the
week God wants to sprinkle seeds of the “Word” into our hearts. The real questions I need to ask myself are: “Is
my heart ready to receive the Word? Is
my heart fruitful soil? Do I see things
but not perceive it? Do I hear the word,
but not understand it? How can I make
sure my heart is receptive soil?”
Application- As I was
pondering these questions I started thinking about one of the first “large”
passages I ever learned as a little girl which was Psalms 100.
A
psalm. For giving grateful praise.
1 Shout for joy to the Lord,
all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord
is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is
good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
- The first heart soil Jesus
describes is the word sown on the hardened path. Have you ever
heard the words “But we’ve always done it that way!” Notice that the Psalmist describes
various forms of worship and not only that, but he talks of various
generations! God has something for
every person and every generation! If we get set in our ways, eventually the
soil of our hearts become packed so hard that we can’t even receive that
new seed that he wants to plant and “Satan comes and takes away the word
that was sown in them.”
- The
second heart soil Jesus describes is the word sown on rocky ground. I believe the only way to fill in the
spaces between the rocks creating soil in which to nurture the seed is by
remembering to enter into his courts with thanksgiving and into his gates
with praise. We can hear the word on
Sunday or in our morning devotional, but if we don’t allow it to move us
to Thanksgiving and praise, if we don’t meditate on the fact that we are
his dear ones and He is a sovereign God who is good and his love endures
forever, we can allow tribulations and persecution to steal the word that
God spoke to us.
- The
third heart soil Jesus describes is the word sown on thorny soil. There is a type of weed that grows here
in the Northwest that twines itself around plants and basically chokes
things out. They have these little
prickles which are very… shall I say “unfriendly.” The prickles aren’t too bad if you get
them while they’re still green and young, but it’s easier to weed out
those thorny plants before they get dry and brittle or twine themselves
around the tender growth becoming harder to manage. That’s the way it is with the thorns
that needle their way into our heart soil.
I guess sometimes we can get so preoccupied with the things that we
want it chokes out the things that we need. The shepherd takes care of his flocks
and makes sure that we have all of our needs met. If we are preoccupied with what the
sheep have in the other field we can allow it to cause us to wander away
from the shepherd. If we know
that the LORD is God, it is he who made us, and we are his; we are his
people and the sheep of his pasture, we can remember to appreciate the
simple things, such as the gentle word he spoke to us this morning in our
devotional.
- The
fourth heart soil Jesus describes is the word sown on good soil. So what is good soil anyhow? The King James says this: “And these are
they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it……” (Mark 4:20)
It is when we hear and receive the word that we bear fruit. The word “hear” in this passage is “akouō”
which means “to hear (in
various senses): - give audience, be noised, be reported, to understand.” The word “receive” in this passage is “paradechomai” which means “to accept near, that is,
admit or (by implication) delight
in.” So
if we understand the word and delight in it, that is what it takes for our
hearts to be good soil.
Prayer-
Dear Lord, I want to come into your courts with praise and singing. I want to meditate on your word so that I can
understand it and let it grow roots deeply into my heart. Please help me to
delight in your word and rest assured that you are my God and I am one of
your people who you care for and nurture.
Amen.
