Good Ground
“Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” - Matthew 13:18-23
I was reading this the other day, and God pointed something out to me about the different types of soil.
Maybe you already noticed what I’m about to tell you, but I had not!
I always assumed that the different types of ground here were just that type of ground already. In other words, I believed that the good ground was already good ground. That’s just silly, isn’t it? I mean, how does good ground become good ground?
If you want to take any old plot of ground out there and make it good ground, depending on the state of it, you’re going to have some work to do! You’re going to have to clear debris, pull up weeds, and probably remove a bunch of rocks hidden underneath the topsoil. Getting good ground takes WORK.
When we’re good ground to the Word of God, it means we’ve already:
- Not allowed the enemy to steal the Word from us… no, we:
- Heard the word with joy and accepted it. Affliction came, and we did not yank that Word up out of the dirt. We refused to get offended either at people or at the Word. We clung to the Word and walked in love!
- And when the cares and worries and stresses and aaaall of the methods of distraction that are out there to get us off course came knocking, we stood against them and carefully plucked those weeds out of the dirt so they wouldn’t choke the Word!
And then oh, glory to God, what happens? That Word produces FRUIT in our lives! Whether that fruit is a closer walk with Him, healing, provision, relationships being restored—whatever! If we’re good ground, the Word WILL produce WORD results!
It was so encouraging for me to realize that having thorns, rocks, and weeds that need to be dealt with in my life and heart DOES NOT mean I’m not good ground. BUT, I am always in the process of BECOMING good ground—woot!
