Isaiah 55:9-11
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Matthew 13:1-30
Why does Jesus speak in parables? I have often wondered this and here the disciples ask that question. So I ask, would people believe him if he told them exactly the way it should be without giving them an example to visualize through a parable? The miracles that he performed were not just a magic show, they were the real thing, right in front of their eyes, yet some still didn’t believe him. Isn’t that kind of what Jesus is saying when he says they are seeing, yet they do not see or they are hearing, yet they do not hear? I don’t think Jesus is making it more difficult for us to understand his message by teaching through parables, I think that he is trying to show us how to live through these stories, by example. We may not be capable of understanding it any other way. Some things I think we just have to accept, he is Jesus and I am certain he knows what he is doing.
When it comes to the message about the sower, I think about myself and which I would be. I think that throughout my life I have at one time or another been all of them. I have been the sower who did not understand the message and I allowed it to be ripped from my hands. I never kept it long enough to try to understand it. There was a time when I was receiving a message with my eyes and ears, but not with my heart and therefore it never had a chance to live and grow within my soul. I have definitely been the one who received a message with joy and then when times got difficult I allowed it to slip through my fingers until it was completely gone. I have also been the one who hears it, but feels so burdened down with worries or so happy with worldly joys that it just sits there and nothing ever becomes of it as well. I bet you are saying ’worldly joys’, where does she come up with some of this stuff? What I mean is that sometimes, when our life is going good and everything seems to be working so smoothly that we get away from that oh so important dependence upon God. We don’t desperately seek him in prayer or study his word seeking wisdom and knowledge, we just sometimes get in a mode of thinking that we are doing a pretty good job of taking care of ourselves. Worldly worries or worldly joys can both be just as dangerous, if we allow it, they are both capable of pulling us away from our total dependence upon God. I pray that I will be the like the last sower mentioned, that I will not only hear the word, but I will understand it and apply to my life so that it will grow and multiply. I so want to understand what God is telling me, I want to share with everyone what he shares with me, I so want to be on the path that he has set before me, and I cannot do any of this without reading his Word and seeking his guidance as I read.
I just think that we need to start listening and seeing with our hearts, and not just with our eyes and ears. As I write this I cannot help but think of the song Give Me Your Eyes by Brandon Heath, which basically is asking Jesus to give me your eyes so that I can see what you see. I will leave you with the chorus from this song.
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
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