“The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Matthew 13:23
I have this one area in my yard where it seems, no matter what I do, I just can’t get grass to grow. Soon after we purchased our home, we had a rock driveway installed. The work crew noticed an area near the house that was very unstable. It turned out there was a section of ground, where a septic tank had once been, that had been filled in with some cheap sand. They proceeded to dig out the sand and replace it with rock to stabilize the area and they spread the sand in a section of our back yard. If I had known just how bad that sand was I would have had them haul it off because it seems no matter how much fertilizer, lime, or seed I put down, it just won’t grow.
Our hearts can get toxic like that as well, and Jesus talked about it in Matthew 13 as He described the different types of soil, representing our hearts, that the Seed of God’s Word is planted in. Basically, Jesus is saying that if the soil is bad, the seed won’t grow. The reality is that our adversary is continually trying to steal the seeds of God’s Word from our hearts through any means possible, and one of his strategies is through hurt that results in bitterness.
In 2 Samuel chapter one, we see that David maintained a pure heart before the Lord even after years of Saul chasing him and trying to kill him. If anyone should have been happy at the news of Saul’s death, you would think that surely it would have been David. But instead, David wept and mourned for Saul. David kept the soil of his heart clear of any bitterness and unforgiveness after all he had been through.
Today, let’s remember to keep our eyes and hearts on Jesus and His Word, and as we do, our adversary won’t be able to steal one single seed!