Saints, I came across this last night during my quiet time. It caused me to stop and meditate on the efficacy of God's implanted Word. "And receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls".
I like to plant stuff - in particular, tomatoes and jalapeno peppers - and each spring I keep a fresh "salsa" garden on my land. I have always been so intrigued over the miracle of botany and seed germination. In my opinion, there isn't anything on earth that holds more spiritual illustration and inferential wisdom than the relationship between the seed and ground and Christian faith. I was reading some Andrew Murray lectures on faith last night and came across something I'd like to share with the readership here:
"The Holy Spirit brings the word of God to our hearts, and our faith grows from the seeds of Scripture that He instills in us. Then, through the Spirit and the Word, our faith produces fruit that is pleasing to God.
[b]"The seed is the Word of God"
The cold, dead earth can bring forth nothing of itself but thorns and thistles. It does not have the power to give man nutritious corn. However, when a farmer desires to have corn, he takes good seed and plants it in the ground that had untill then brought forth nothing but weeds.
The soil receives the seed and keeps it in the dark secrecy and silence of the ground. Encouraged by the sunshine and moistened by the dew of heaven, it begins to grow. Thus, the cold, dead earth gradually becomes the mother of a beautiful crop. The life is not in the earth, but the seed. And yet, the earth is just as essential as the living seed before the harvest can be reaped.
Although the seed does not receive life from the earth, the seed cannot yield its fruit without the earth having its share in the work. The earth offers the seed its soil, in which the root begins to grow. The seed is then kept in the ground until it is ready to make an appearance as a plant above ground.
Like the corn seed, the Word of God has a divine, life-giving power. Like the cold, dead earth, the heart has no life in itself and and can produce no good fruit of itself. Like the seed that is sown in the earth, the Word of God is sown in the heart and committed to simply to be received and kept there. God has lodged in the seed a living power that insures that the ground - though in and of itself wholly incapable of yeilding anything but weeds and thorns and thistles - will be changed into a fruitful field.
Do not mourn any longer, then, that your heart is hard and so full of weeds. Instead, understand that by keeping the seed [i]that the Spirit has planted
"The Lord is gracious and full of compassion" (Psalm 111:4).
"He will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:7).
"Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).
"Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6)
Every one of these verses is a heavenly grain of seed containing power for eternal life. Every one of them - [i]when it begins to sprout[i]and keep it there
A seed needs time for development and growth. It must be kept a for a long time beneath the ground, but one day it begins to sprout. Therefore, continue daily to fill your heart with the Word of God, with His promises and grace."
- Andrew Murray
I don't know about you, but that really speaks to me! Blessed be our God, for giving us His Eternal Word.
Brother Paul
