The Power Of Patience - The One Year Unlocking the Bible Devotional

The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.   Matthew 13:19

There are times when I find this parable frustrating. I wish we could send a team of missionaries to an unreached people group and know for sure that when the Word is preached, the culture will be transformed, the darkness dispelled, the corruption ended, and faith in Christ born—that the whole community will become worshipers of Jesus. But God works by sowing seeds, not by dropping bombs.

I wish we could see our culture in America transformed. I wish abortion were unneeded and unwanted. I wish divorce would end and families would be happy and secure. I wish we would be delivered from the delusion that truth is whatever an individual happens to think. I wish we would all know the living and true God and fall before him in worship. But God works by sowing seeds, not by dropping bombs.

The problem with sowing seeds is that it takes patience. It’s not very spectacular work, and things don’t look very different when you’re finished sowing than they did when you started. It’s just the same old plowed field. The bomber can look at the immediate effects of his work, but the farmer can’t.

If you teach Sunday school for an hour or pray with your children at home or share an encouragement with a neighbor, you will sometimes wonder if your work makes any difference. Remember that you are sowing seed.

God has chosen to grow his Kingdom slowly by planting the living seed of his Word in the lives of people. He calls us to sow that seed patiently and persistently. Jesus made it clear that a great deal of the seed is unproductive. Some falls on the path or among thorns or in rocky places, and nothing of lasting value comes from it. But the Word of God is living seed. It has life in it! And where the Word takes root, there will be a harvest. So keep sowing the seeds of God’s truth.

For further reading, see Matthew 9