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THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER : THE STONY HEART PART 1
Our hearts are of great importance to God, much more than our external looks. God said to Prophet Samuel in (1Sam. 16: 7) “…the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (nkjv) Jesus our Lord during His ministry on earth told the Scribes and the Pharisees Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying: ‘these people draw near
to Me with their mouth. And honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me…” (Matt 15: 7, 8a nkjv)
Furthermore, remember it was the heart conditions of Judah and Israel that God spoke through prophets Jeremiah:
(“break up your fallow ground and do not sow, among thorns, circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts (Jer 4:3,4 nkjv) and Hosea: “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you” (Hosea :10, 12 nkjv). Thus God looks at our heart conditions at all times and this underscores the importance to all men to “above all else guard your heart for it affects everything you do “ (Prov 4:23 nlt); from receiving the gift of salvation, growing in maturity to bear fruits that abide to God's glory and enjoying the abundance of God’s goodness from His promises.
Let us refresh our memory of the parable of the sower. Jesus revealed four different types of hearts referred to as soils. The seed is the word of God. The farmer or sower is the one who delivers God’s message to the people who, in this parable, are the field with different soils (hearts) indicating varying levels of receptivity of the word of God.
This parable is recorded in the Books of Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8 along with same interpretation by the Lord in all the three Gospels.
Jesus said “The farmer I talked about is the one who brings God’s message to others. The seed that fell on the hard path (wayside) represents those who hear the message, but then satan in the Book of Mark, the evil one in Matthew, and the devil in Luke) comes at once and takes it away from them. The stony/rocky soil represents those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But like young plants in such soil, their roots don’t go very deep. At first they get along fine, but they wilt as soon as they have problems or are persecuted because they believe the word. The thorny ground/soil represents those who hear and accept the good news, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for nice things, so no crop is produced. But the good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s message and produce a huge harvest- thirty, sixty or even a hundred times as much as has been planted.” (Mark4: 14‐20 nlt)
In Luke 8:15 we read interestingly “But the ones that fell on the good ground (soil) are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” (nkjv)
Observe also that the good ground - the heart is good i.e. fertile, noble and retains the word and bears fruit. All the noble and good hearts do not produce the same level of fruitfulness. This heart has patience and endurance - the fruits remain. We will examine this is detail later.
Recall that we have discussed the wayside or hard path heart, the thorny heart, the hearts that need to be broken up, tilled and cultivated to bear fruit in the books of Jeremiah and the Hosea.
In this discourse we take up the heart described as stony or rocky soils the seeds fell on the rocky, stony soils. This is the heart that is like a ground or soil full of stones. Lets X-ray it.
First of all let us understand that the four grounds, or fields or soils describe four different types of people and the different ways they respond to the gospel message or prophetic word they are expecting fulfillment in their lives.
Consider this commentary on this subject in Life Application Study Bible, New Living Translation, Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton on page 1489. It says “usually we think that Jesus was talking about four different kinds of people. But He may also have been talking about (1) different kinds of phases in a person’s life or (2) how we willingly apply God’s message to some areas of our life but resist applying it to others. For example, you may be open to God about your future but closed concerning how you spend your money.
You may response like good soil in God’s demand for worship but respond like rocky (or stony) soil to His demand to give to people in need. Strive to be like good soil in every area of your life at all times. May the Lord grant us the grace to totally surrender our hearts to Him.
May God strengthen us with His glorious powers that we may have all the patience and endurance we need to obey Him and be fruitful.
In part 2 we will look at the characteristics of the stony heart. May the Lord be gracious unto you and all that belong to you.