Are you sowing in fertile ground?

Don’t you just love it when the Holy Spirit reveals deeper understanding and wisdom to Bible verses you have read over and over?  It takes a book,  words on a page, and makes them real.  It makes the words that you are reading, become more than words, they become words that are alive and full of power.  They are full of ability, to take you from where you were, before you read them, to transform your mind to a higher level after you read them.

Sometimes I have to sit back and say…wow!

Tonight was one of those nights.  I was reading Matthew 13:4-9 and had a wow moment.  It’s a parable I have heard many times, and truly I can identify with this parable on many different levels, but, but I never looked at it in reference to my circumstances.

Matthew 13:4-9 And as he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and ate them up. (5) Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil; and at once they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. (6) but when the sun rose, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they dried up and withered away.  (7) Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them out. (8) Other seeds fell on good soil, and yielded grain – some a hundred times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much , and some thirty. (9) He who has ears (to hear); let him be listening and let him consider and perceive and comprehend by hearing.

Again, these are verses I have heard, read and even discussed before, so how surprised was I when the Holy Spirit revealed that this parable is like my life, and my current circumstance.

We all obviously want to be verse eight.  We all want to see a return on our sowing or a harvest for our seeds.  I would also expect, that most of us, would like the hundred times as much as we had sown, but wouldn’t complain with the other two options either.

But do we see that there are a couple things we need to do to get to this place of reaping.  The place of harvest doesn’t come easily; we have work we must do to prepare us for this time.

In verse four, we see that if seeds fall on the ground, and birds are around, the birds will eat the seeds.  To me this is like the person whose heart is so hardened to life, or maybe even to God, that they aren’t able to receive anything.  They aren’t able to even take in the seed to give it a chance, because they have become so distant from God. 

God is giving them a chance, just as He does with all of us, but that chance falls on hard ground.  I am sure this person isn’t able to hear God when He calls them, or see God in the beauty around them.  Truly they might not believe in God at all.  Their seeds are not put to good use, to further their lives, or the kingdom of God, because of their hardened hearts.

In verse five we see another example.  This time the seeds fell on rocky ground where there wasn’t much soil.  This time they were able to receive the seed, but the seed sprouted too quickly, and when the sun came up, they were scorched due to the lack of root in the soil. 

We never want to receive something from God we are not ready for.  We don’t want something that our hearts are not tender enough to appreciate, value and nurture.   When God gives you a blessing we want that blessing to stay with us, to thrive with us, and to grow with us.  When you receive a blessing before it’s time, it’s really not a blessing at all.  

This is a learning experience.

This is showing you that yes, you are not hard soil but your depth of soil is not there.  You have not achieved maturity in God, and in your walk with God, to handle the blessing that He is giving to you.   Anything that comes to quickly, or too easily, will burn out as quickly as it came. 

My mom had told me this the majority of my life.  This is the reason she didn’t buy me a car when I was sixteen.  She told me, that I needed to work for what I have, because then I will appreciate and value what I have.  And my mom would love to know, she was right.

When you are handed things, before you are able to understand what you have been given, and what it takes to keep what you have, in the long run it will end up hurting you.  To me, this is God’s way of showing you that life is in His timing, not ours.  That we need to trust Him and His ways so that when we are mature enough to value what we are given, we will handle it appropriately so that it can also mature with us.  We can take that blessing, when we are ready for it, and then bless other people with what we have been given or learned.  This is how we glorify God, and show our good fruit.

In verse seven the seeds have fallen in the thorns, and they grew up among the seeds and choked the seeds.  These seeds are now being planted in a deeper soil, a soil that has matured but hasn’t grown to trust God yet.  This soil is tossed and turned by its circumstances.   This soil will be riding the waves of emotions and their surroundings, allowing negative thoughts and people to steal their harvest. 

I personally have a bit of an issue with this.  It’s difficult to stand on the word of God, and His promises when you aren’t seeing anything happening.  It’s a trust unlike any I have ever known.

What I am learning is this, when I stand on the word of God and His promises to me, and fight back against the weeds, or the evil things of this world, I am allowing my seeds to grow and produce a harvest.  

If I spend time focusing on my situation, and or the lack of what I want in my life, I am giving the power to the weeds, and stopping the growth of my seeds.   We cannot flourish in negativity, and positivity at the same time; we must pick one or the other.  It’s the same as darkness will not survive in the presence of light.  You cannot have both in the same space.   When you enter a dark room and turn on the light, the darkness is taken over the power of the light.

When we give in to the negative thoughts we are extinguishing the light from our lives and our hearts.  We are meditating on the negative and in return allowing that to flourish and grow, to kill any chance we have of producing a harvest, from God.  You will produce a harvest, but not the harvest God has called you for.

Last but not least, the verse we all strive to be, verse eight.   Here we see the seed fell onto good soil and it yielded much grain.   This seed has brought us a harvest and the harvest can be anywhere from one hundred fold to thirty percent fold.   The thing to focus on here is the soil.  The soil has become deep, fertile soil, good for planting and good for reaping.   This soil has reached maturity in their relationship, trust and faith in God, and what He says.  This soil, though they still have doubts, fears and worries, like everyone else, they don’t meditate on them.  They hand them over to God.  They surrender their lives to the Heavenly Father, who created them.

They have realized that their lives are not their own, and they have been put here for a purpose and that purpose will be achieved as long as they stay focused on God, and His abilities, not their own.

This is what every Christian strives for.  The level, the deep level of connection, relationship, communication, and trust has been established on both sides, and that makes for a rich harvest.  This person has come to know by going through verse four, five, six and seven, that surrendering their lives to God is going to be much more rewarding in all ways, then trying to fight every battle on their own.

They have reached the level of maturity I am praying daily to find.

We all have the ability to live our everyday lives in verse eight. 

In verse nine, we see that we all have ears to hear, and the ability to listen, and consider, and perceive, and comprehend, what God is telling us and how He is directing us, it’s just up to us to take the time to hear Him. 

Every day we are sowing and reaping, every single day of our lives we are in these two phases.  Some days the sowing is hard and very obvious and we can enter into self –pity because of all we are giving.  In these times the reaping isn’t so clear and isn’t so obvious, but it is still there.   Other times it’s vice versa and life is easy and we are floating on a cloud, with a harvest coming from all directions.  But again, in those moments we are still sowing.

Jesus has shown us many times over, that it is up to us where our seed falls.  We have the ability to allow our seed to fall on fertile, deep soil and expect the same harvest.   Or, we can choose to stay where we are, or back slide and go back to who you were, and reap the harvest of your sowing into hard soil.

It is up to us how deep we want to go with God.  He will never force Himself on you, but you can’t hold Him accountable, when you get what you give.  God is a gracious God, and He will bless even the ones who have turned their backs on Him, but you can’t expect for God to give you a hundred, sixty or thirty fold in return when you have given Him nothing.

The choice is yours.  You will reap what you sow, there is no doubt in that, so why not reap a harvest worthy of the God you serve!  Why not be, or become, the fertile, deep soil that God has intended you to be!!