Mark 4:26-29 Seeds Grow
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: January 17, 2018, Mark 4:26-29
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
He was also saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seeds on the ground. He sleeps and gets up night and day while the seeds sprout and grow, although he doesn’t know how. The ground produces grain by itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, he immediately starts cutting with his sickle because the harvest time has come.”
(Understanding the Text) What is the kingdom of God here? Is it Christ living in us?
When I first read this, I immediately applied it to spreading the message of Jesus to others. I thought of my part being the seed sower and the harvester. This seems to be correct because it says that the man does not know how it grows. It gives just three jobs to the man-planting, waiting-sleeping and waking, and harvesting. The growth is from some other mysterious force that the man cannot see.
The secondary meaning that I apply to this text is the growth of the kingdom of God in myself. I plant the seeds by reading and listening to and meditating on the word of God. Those seeds grow in me transforming me as I go about my daily life. I don’t know how they change me, but I receive the harvest.
Does this mean that I just need to keep spreading God’s word and not worry about whether it will grow or not? That seems to contradict the idea of nurturing, but maybe not since nurturing comes under the idea of loving while this has the idea of outside forces controlling development. If I think that my nurturing is necessary and nothing will happen without me, then maybe it’s a contradiction. This is probably the wrong line of reasoning.
I tend to think my first explanation is the best one because in another place Jesus used the word harvest to refer to people who needed leading; “When he saw the crowds, he was deeply moved with compassion for them, because they were troubled and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he told his disciples, “The harvest is vast, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” (Mat 9:36-38). The key here in these verses is that it is the Lord’s harvest, not mine. In the former parable, the man who harvests is the same as the man who plants, and I was thinking of him as the owner, but if I add this other saying, then the person who plants and harvests is not the owner, but the worker hired by the owner.
(Application) The application for my life is that God has given me three jobs. I am to plant the seeds of His word, and while I may watch them develop, I should take no credit because it is the Spirit who causes the development, not me. Then, I am to harvest and bring people into the church when they are ready. What does harvesting mean? Maybe baptism, but maybe also welcoming them into fellowship and guiding them to become workers themselves?
(Understanding the Text) The disciples were part of the first plantings with Jesus, but they were not the main workers. Jesus let them harvest the field themselves from the seeds that John the Baptist and then Jesus sowed. We do not need great spiritual power to make the seeds we plant grow. It is the nature of the seeds that they will grow. We need to simply do our job and plant.
According to F. F. Bruce’s commentary this parable is only told in Mark’s gospel (page 1161). This commentary says that the significance is that nothing was going to stop Jesus’ message. He was planting the seeds then and the kingdom of heaven would reach consummation from the seeds Jesus was planting. They point that in the beginning nothing dramatic could be seen, but once the seed was planted, the harvest was inevitable. They point out that we should not be fretful about the seed’s growth, but we should simply confidently expect a harvest.
(Revelation of God) The source of all growth is God alone. Jesus sends out workers, but He is the one who makes sure that the seeds that are planted sprout and grow. It is the Holy Spirit working inside of us silently that enables us to become something more. God is constantly working quietly all around me. I need to pay more attention to the miracles of growth that surround me.
(Prayer) Help me to be faithful in performing the jobs that You have given me. Teach me to be a good planter and harvester. Teach me also to be a good waiter. I don’t wait very well. Help me to wait for Your timing and not get anxious. Give me peace and joy as I wait and as I work.