²⁶ And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; ²⁷ and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. ²⁸ The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”  Mark 4:26-29

      When I was in the third grade my teacher gave us all cups with potting soil inside.  Next, she provide the class with seeds.  Yes, little sunflower seeds were entrusted to us to plant in our cups.  We all had learned the growth process of plants and now we were getting some first hand knowledge.  With the seeds planted firmly in the soil, they were placed in the window seal.  I was an impatient little farmer and I wanted to see some action.  The first few days there was some complaining among the third grade farmers.  Where were the results?  Fortunately for our teacher, we had to leave them there for a long weekend.  She probably planned it that way!  When we came back everyone’s seed had sprouted and was shooting for the sky.  It was an amazing sight for third grade eyes.  I learned a life long lesson there in that third grade class.  Given the right conditions, seeds planted will grow.  All you have to do is put it in the ground and God will do the rest. 

      This is the same “spiritual” lesson Jesus was trying to teach His disciples in Mark 4.  The word He uses is “automatos“.  It is our word automatic.  It means “without visible cause.”  Seeds planted in the ground grow without visible cause.  A small, insignificant seed is buried in the ground and remains unseen.  Its growth is somewhat secret and mysterious.  Yet it grows until maturity. 

      This is a spiritual law in the Kingdom of God.  Anything you plant in God’s Kingdom will come back 30, 60 and 100 fold.  The how and why is not up to us.  All we as believers have to do is plant seed, the Lord does the rest.  This is why Jesus said “the Kingdom of God is just like a man who cast seed in the soil.”   If we can be farmers here on earth, then we can be farmers in the Kingdom of God as well. 

      The only question we have to ask and answer is…Do we trust the Lord?  Because just as the earthly planting process occurs without cause, so does the spiritual process.  The Lord is responsible for the growth and return.  Lets go back to my third grade class.  I wanted to dig up my seed to see if there was anything happening down in the soil.  If I had kept digging up my seed, would there have been any growth?  No!  The only way for growth to happen is to trust the process. 

      I encourage you today to trust God in your own spiritual process.  Ask the Lord where and what you need to be planting in His Kingdom.  Find a place in your own heart for the word of the Lord to grow.  You will not be able to see it happen, but you will glorify the Lord in the process. 

Blessings,

Pastor