Good Seed Sown On Good Soil

We are all familiar with Jesus’ Parable of the Sower. You may read up the Luke’s version in Luke Chapter 8 verses 5-15.

‘“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”’ Luke 8:5-8 NKJV https://my.bible.com/bible/114/LUK.8.5-8

Now, I see 3 main entities in this parable….

1. The Sower (Jesus)
2. The Seed (The Word of God)
3. The Soil (Hearts of men)

Notice that, in this parable, among these 3 entities, the Sower and the Seed are constant; they don’t change. The same Sower went around sowing his Seed…..Same Sower, dropped same Seed on different soil types. 

The Soil is varied…The Seed fell on different kinds of Soil. Four different kinds of soil are mentioned;

1. The Wayside Soil
2. The Rocky Soil
3. The Thorny Soil
4. The Good Soil

Each kind of soil is carefully defined by certain characteristics:

The Wayside Soil

The Seed sown on this soil type was so easily taken away (stolen) by the devil. This soil didn’t seem to have placed much value on the Seed. No record of it receiving the Seed, only heard. May not have even noticed when the Seed was taken away! And so the purpose of the Seed/Sower wasn’t achieved. The Wayside soil is liable to unbelief (due to nonchalance). 

–‘What was that man talking about again? What did they even talk about in Church today?’ …(thinking)…… I read my Bible today, but wait; …(thinking)…..was it the Book of James, or John or….Oh! I think it’s the Book of Peter where it’s said….”for God so loved the world that He gave”….Just a second…what did God give again?  ……  🙂 

The Wayside heart is just by the wayside. Doesn’t pay attention, doesn’t know, stands no chance of becoming saved.

The Rocky Soil

The Rocky soil would seem like an improvement on the Wayside soil….it received the Seed with joy, believed briefly, but then fell back into unbelief. 

The Rocky soil momentarily celebrates the Seed, holds unto it for a little while, but alas! releases and forgets the Seed as soon as temptation knocks. What temptation? I would think the temptation to not believe the Seed/Word. 

-‘Halleluyah! Powerful Word today!~ Awesome Word!!!  But wait a second…….How sure am I that these Words are true? How sure am I that these Seed would grow into what I envisaged?  …...Is God really going to supply All my needs?…….Oh! I better just go with what has been proven to work! I can’t take the risk.’…?

The Rocky soil heart is enthusiastic but without roots or confidence in the Word.

The Thorny Soil

The thorny soil obviously has a lot of things begging for it’s attention. It easily yields to distractions of pleasures, riches and cares of life.

–Oh! I do not have the patience to wait this Word out! I do not have the patience to wait for this seed to grow. Besides, I am pretty much okay by myself- I can get all the pleasures I desire, I have riches (or I can make them), I can even buy my health, why bother with ‘by His stripes we were healed? That’s too difficult…….I better concern myself with my basic needs (clothing, shelter, food). As I see it, that’s what this life is about! ‘Hey Theresa, did you see Yvonne’s clutch purse today? It’s Gucci!! That’s my next buy…….Now, how do I make the money to pull that in? …..  🙂 

The Good Soil

Is given to fruitfulness. The Good soil is focused, guided, grounded in belief, conscious of the ways of the devil and the tempter (and so protects his seed). The Good Soil knew how to Work the Seed. 

My Thoughts….

Thought #1

While the 4 different soil types may be referring to specific groups of people, like the Wayside soil seems focused on an unbeliever, it is not impossible to see people exhibiting features of the different soil types in different circumstances.  

For example; somebody can be a Good soil for healing, but a Wayside/Thorny/Rocky soil where finances are concerned. 

Have you located your soil type? …………  🙂

The way I see it, the Good soil is different from the other soil types because the Good Soil does more than just hear/receive the Word. (“Father I receive Your Word” is good, but the Good Soil went beyond just saying that). 

Thought #2

See, all 4 kinds of soil were exposed to the Word. The Seed located a soil as soon as it left the Sower’ hand. Thus giving every soil type an opportunity to do something with the Seed it received. The Word dropped in each heart, say, as a gift. They all heard the Word. Apart from the Wayside heart, the Word seemed promising and full of potential to the other soil types. However, the only soil type (heart) that valued the Word enough and therefore guided it, kept it, protected it (from unbelief, temptations and distractions) was the Good Soil. In addition to protecting the seed-gift, the Good Soil believed the Word, put the Word to work (acting upon it and confessing it) continuously and patiently until the Seed yielded the expected outcome. More like…..Word+Works+Patience=Fruit. 

I believe that the main driver for patiently working on the heard/received Word is faith. And faith does not succeed without hope (trusted/confident expectation of an outcome).And at the root of the expressions of the Wayside/Rocky/Thorny soil is unbelief. 

Thought #3

Like I pointed out earlier, the Seed and the Sower in this parable are constant. But do you know that if we considered for a moment that words are seed, any kind of words (good words, bad words). A sower would then be anyone speaking and depositing words (on himself or others). Therefore, our assertion of the Seed and Sower being constant only holds for the setting of this parable. The difference being that The Sower in this parable will always be Jesus Christ, and we know that the Words (Seed) Jesus speaks to us are always Good Words; they are Spirit and life. Take away Jesus, take away the Word (of God), every other Word/Sower cannot be categorically said to be Good except after being scrutinized through the Word.

Lessons learnt

There are 4 key lessons coming out of this for me;

1. Every Word of God is a pure unadulterated Good Seed with potential to bear fruits. 
2. Every time the Word of God falls on a Ground ground, fruitfulness is inevitable.
3. Every day, I have an opportunity to sow good seed (Word of God) in different areas of my life. As I work the Word, guard it, wait patiently on it, my expected Fruits will manifest.
4. My experience as a Believer is based on what Words I am speaking.

After studying this, a smart Believer seeking fruitfulness (results/manifestations) in any area of life, would not relent in speaking the Word which has been proven to yield good fruits once it finds a good ground.

We make our hearts good grounds by earnestly and honestly seeking God. Honestly seeking Him to show forth in the different areas of our lives that we need Him to. By renewing our minds regularly with His Word. 

What area of your life do you need to start sowing the Seed of God’s Word? (found mine). Keep saying it. Don’t stop doing it. Keep living it. Never stop believing it. Don’t stop seeing it. Keep saying it and surely, the Word will grow and yield the expected fruits. 

AboutGrace Obomanu

Grace obomanu is a Christian Blogger and Founder; 'Grace Obomanu Foundation'. Grace is an inspiring writer who intentionally projects the truth of God's word by sharing simple yet profound truths from the Bible. She writes with a revelational thrust, sharing wisdom, insights relatable to everyday living with particular emphasis on Victorious Christian Living. Her foundation, a non-profit trustee, continues to make impact, adding value to people's lives through outreaches, mentorship, bible teachings and counseling, partnerships. Grace has a diploma in Ministerial Training (with emphasis on Spiritual Leadership from Rhema Bible Training Center Nigeria. She trained as a medical doctor and has years of experience in Health Systems Management. She also holds a master's degree in Public Health from the University of Liverpool.