In Mark 4, Jesus tells the parable about the farmer who sows his seed and what happens to the seed depending on where it falls. Of course, the seed is the word of God and you and I are the soil.

So let’s see what happens to the seed.

“Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.”

It’s possible for someone to hear God’s word, but to lose it “as soon as they hear it.” Somehow, Satan has the ability to take it away that quickly. Maybe it’s because of a hardened heart or a deceived mind. In either case, the word does not find fertile soil in which to grow.

“Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.”

Some hear God’s word and actually receive it with joy, but they don’t last. Believing and following Christ isn’t easy. If we expect it to be, we’ll be very disappointed. Like I was. For a number of years, I thought God was going to make my life easier, but He only seemed to be making it harder. I didn’t understand that God uses troubles to grow my faith and reveal Himself.

“Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”

I suspect that most of us are living among the thorns. We hear God’s word. We’re encouraged by it. We’re excited at the thought of God coming through for us. But in between the hearing and the “coming through”, there’s usually a delay. There’s a season of growing and watering and cultivating. Harvest doesn’t come right away.

While we’re waiting for the harvest, the thorns begin to grow. Every time we wonder how God can possibly come through for us or doubt He will, it’s like one more thorn bush that’s taken root. But instead of yanking it out by the roots, we let it grow and spread and begin to choke the word. We were so confident God was going to come through, but now we’re not so sure.

Don’t worry or wonder about how God will come through for you. Concentrate on Who’s going to come through. Leave the “how’s” to Him. We can’t possibly imagine all the possible ways He can work. Let Him be the infinitely creative God that He is. Let Him surprise you with the wonderful “how’s” He’s dreamed up just for you.

Sometimes the thorn bushes are just our preoccupation with money and all the stuff it buys. We give more time and thought to the new car or television than we do to time in God’s word. Or we wonder (there’s another thorn bush) and worry about how we’re going to pay our bills or if we’ll even have a job in six months.

Then there’s the desire for other things. A desire for a relationship. A desire for a baby. A desire for a house. A desire for a new job. A desire for a pool in the backyard (that’s mine). A desire to be appreciated. A desire to be healthy. More thorn bushes.

There’s nothing wrong with any of those desires– that is until they become stronger than our desire for Christ and His word. Ultimately, my needs and desires are met in Him. If a desire goes unfulfilled, then I can trust Him to meet that need in a different way.

I have often made the mistake of desiring something and seeking God for it, but forgetting Him once I’ve received what I wanted. Again, many of our desires are not wrong, but they become thorn bushes when we desire Jesus less.

“Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”

That’s the soil we want. Hear the word, accept it and let it produce a crop in us and through us. So where does that soil come from?

James 4 gives us the answer:

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.

We want things, but don’t get them. We get angry or discouraged. We don’t have because we don’t ask God, but when we do ask Him, we ask with wrong motives. We only want what will make our lives easier or more pleasurable. Thorn bushes.

Why? Because we’re more in love with our lives and this world than we are with Him. More thorn bushes.

(By the way, if it feels like I’m pointing fingers, I’m not. The use of the word “we” is intentional. I’m battling just like you.)

James tells us that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. So who are the proud?

The proud are those who direct their own lives. The ones who want what they want, not what God wants. The proud have a plan. And they want God to bless it.

But He won’t. Instead, He will be faithful to stand in opposition to those who want to pursue their own agenda.

So what’s the solution?

Surrender. We give Him control. We lay down our plans and dreams and desires. We ask Him to replace them with His. We put Him before everyone and everything else.

And when we do, it’s the thorn bushes that get choked out…and His word is free to produce the crop God intends.

Working in the soil of our hearts is messy. There are a lot of thorn bushes that need to be uprooted. It can take some time. Fortunately though, we don’t do it alone. We surrender our hearts to Him and ask Him to help us dig out what needs to go and water the seed that will produce the crop.

Your harvest is coming. Don’t give up.