Fruitful Soil

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.

1. 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.” 
2. 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.
3. 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. 
4. 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.