Mark 4:3-9 NLT
[3] “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seed. [4] As he scattered it across his field, some of the seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it. [5] Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. [6] But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn’t have deep roots, it died. [7] Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants so they produced no grain. [8] Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they sprouted, grew, and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” [9] Then he said, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”
Good Morning!
Soil carries the organic building blocks of life. It has potential to nourish seedlings to grow into acres of corn, a giant oak tree, beautiful flowers, vineyards, or delicious fruit. God made sure we have an abundant supply of this rich organic matter to support all of life on this planet. Soil is necessary to sustain, yet, we can’t just pick up a handful of dirt and eat it. No, we have to plant a seed and let the nutrients of the soil envelop around the seedling and life buds forth miraculously.
Here’s what Wikapedia says about soil…
Soil acts as an engineering medium, a habitat for soil organisms, a recycling system for nutrients and organic wastes, a regulator of water quality, a modifier of atmospheric composition, and a medium for plant growth, making it a critically important provider of ecosystem services.[20] Since soil has a tremendous range of available niches and habitats, it contains most of the Earth’s genetic diversity. A gram of soil can contain billions of organisms, belonging to thousands of species, mostly microbial and largely still unexplored. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil
Pretty impressive stuff! Soil contains so much, yet when left alone, it never does more than just make mud. Likewise, the Word of God gives us life and is soil to feed our souls. It teaches us, guides us, encourages us, and gives us salvation, delivering the very nutrients needed for our souls to grow and burst forth with life. Yet, if left alone, it is just a book on a shelf, with words that contain the elements of life, yet ignored and made into “mud.”
God gave us soil to nourish and feed our vegetation and He gave us His word to nourish and feed our souls. When we do not take the time to let the Word of God envelop around the seeds within our hearts, we’ll never grow into the man or woman of God that He wants us to be.
For a tree to live, it must continually be nourished by the soil. Once removed or cut down, the tree will die. Likewise, we must continually feed on the Word of God. It is not a “one and done,” but a continual journey for the rest of our lives, absorbing the wisdom and guidance of God’s Word into the very fabric of our being on a daily basis. A healthy tree has roots that spread deep and wide drawing up the the nutrients for life.
A tree doesn’t quickly grow from seedling to a majestic oak. It takes years of time to slowly draw the nutrients out of the soil as it continually grows upward toward the sun. We also slowly draw the nutrients for our souls from God’s Word as we slowly grow upward toward the Son. God is faithful to lead us and guide us into growing into a mature “tree” so that we can be effective in His kingdom.
We should take lessons from the tree and let the Word of God be spread deep and wide into the roots of our hearts as we continually grow in His mercy and grace.
I love you and am praying for you today!
Dad
