‘A sower went forth to sow…’ One of Jesus’ most famous parables is the story of the sower (Matthew 13:3/ Mark 4:3/ Luke 8:5)
The farmer went out, and diligently sowed his seed to begin the growing season. There were encounters and obstacles along the way – some fell into poor quality soil, some fell amongst weeds, and some fell on the wayside – hard, packed down soil. Before the seed even had a chance to take root, the birds came and picked them up.
The other day, I was enjoying a walk in the countryside, and observed a great number of birds following a tractor. The tractor was sowing thousands of seeds, and the birds were trying to eat as much of this opportunistic and bountiful supply of food as they possibly could.
I stopped to watch with intrigue, wondering – how was the farmer was going to accomplish his objective with so many birds diligently following the tractor, picking up the seeds?
Isn’t that how life feels sometimes? Luke 8:11 tells us that the seed is the Word of God – the wisdom of Jesus, the principles of Heaven. Have you ever felt like you’re striving diligently to sow the seeds of truth, kindness, wisdom, energy, application, and it feels like you;re being followed by a hungry flock of birds? They leave no time for the seed to settle, to be buried, to germinate. Birds of circumstance, distraction, error, coldness and seeming failure attend to your every effort to sow. The endeavour looks almost useless, and has the potential to be very discouraging. (And think about it… you get out the tractor to shoo away the birds, and the work stops. You step back into the work, and the birds come back…)
Work Ethic
As I watched the perplexity of birds and the tractor, I realised the answer lay in the work ethic – the farmer just kept on sowing. Regardless of the number or intensity of the birds, the work went on. Eventually, the birds would get full, or tired, or both. They couldn’t stay there forever. But if more seeds were sown than the birds were able to pick up, the effort would have been worth it.
Keep on sowing – through the challenges, sow even MORE.
Ecclesiastes 11:6 – ‘In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.’
We never know the outcome of our work if we just keep going, but we do know the result if we stop. As long as there is life – energy, application – there is hope of success. Learn the lesson of the diligent farmer – don’t watch the birds. Just keep sowing.
Romans 12:21 – ‘Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good’.
