Morning By Morning #11

They have no root.

Luke 8:13

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

My soul, examine yourself this morning by the light of this verse. You have received the Word with joy and your feelings have been stirred and awakened. Yet remember, receiving the Word into your ears is one thing, but receiving Jesus into your very soul is quite another. Superficial feelings are often linked to an inward hardness of heart, and stirred and awakened feelings typically don’t last.

In this parable “some [seeds] fell on rock” (Luke 8:6) and probably were covered with a very thin layer of soil. When the seeds began to take root, their downward growth was hindered by the hard stone below. Therefore, they used all their strength to push the new green shoots as high as they could, but without enough moisture from the shallow soil to nourish the roots, they quickly withered away.

Is this my situation? Have I been making a good outward show in the flesh without having the corresponding inner life? True growth takes place upward and downward at the same time. Am I deeply rooted in sincere devotion, faithfulness, and love to Jesus? If my heart remains unsoftened and unfertilized by God’s grace, the good seeds may germinate for a while, but they are ultimately doomed to wither, for they cannot flourish on a rocky, unbroken, and unsanctified heart.

May I dread a kind of godliness as rapid in growth but as lacking in endurance as Jonah’s gourd. (See Jonah 4:5 – 11.) May I count the cost of being a follower of Jesus and, above all, experience the energy of His Holy Spirit, for then I will truly possess the abiding and enduring seeds of God’s Word in my soul.

If, however, my mind remains as stubbornly resistant as it was by nature, the hot sunlight of trials will scorch the seeds. My hard heart will contribute to focusing the heat all the more harshly upon the shallow seeds and my faith will quickly die, creating terrible despair in my life.

Therefore, O Heavenly Sower, plow my heart before casting Your truth into it. Then allow me to yield a bountiful harvest for You.

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

In Israel the land is so rocky that the farmer is forced to remove huge amounts of rock before he even begins to sow the seed. The rocks are piled around the perimeter of the land, making a visible border for the farmer’s property. It is probably with this image in mind that Jesus shared the parable of the sower in Luke 8:1 – 15. And it helps us understand how some of the seeds may fall upon the rocks, sprout quickly, but then just as quickly wither away due to a lack of moisture.

If you desire a deeper walk with Jesus, then new ground must be broken. Yet it is the first plowing that is always the most difficult. Yes, it’s difficult, but it is typically the rich new ground that yields the best fruit and the most bountiful blessings.

“This is what the LORD says…,’Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns’” (Jer. 4:3). “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you” (Hos. 10:12).