Mark 4:3-4

WASTED SEED

‘Behold, there went out a sower to sow: and it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.’

Mark 4:3

The precious seed which fell to the right hand and to the left was wasted, because it fell on ground unprepared to receive it.

I. Waste a great fault and sin.—Wasted food, wasted money, wasted health, wasted time, wasted opportunities of doing and receiving good—these in their several ways are all sins against God and our own souls.

II. Yet constant waste going on.—There is in nature, in Providence, in the spiritual world, a constant waste going on, suggesting much of anxious and painful wonder.

(a) In nature. Might we not almost say that for one thing used ten are wasted? For every seed brought to maturity in plant or tree ten perish and are defeated? For every human body preserved through the accidents and risks of life to complete its term of earthly existence ten fall prematurely into disease and decay, and are abruptly cut off from that amount of enjoyment and of usefulness which might seem, theoretically at least, to be the birthright and inheritance of all into whose nostrils has once been breathed the creative breath of life?

(b) In Providence. Would we could stop here! Would that we could ascribe only to that part of God’s operations which we call nature, or at the utmost to that part of God’s operations which we call Providence, the manifestation of that principle of which we are speaking!

(c) In the spiritual world. Here—saddest sight of all—we seem to see it in its fullest development. How much of truth—precious life-giving truth—have we trifled away in our short lifetime! Let us awake to a better appreciation of the gift of the Word of Life, that we may at last hear unto profiting, and believe to the saving of our souls.

—Dean Vaughan.

Illustration

‘According to Jewish authorities there was twofold sowing, as the seed was either cast by the hand or by means of cattle. In the latter case, a sack with holes was filled with corn and laid on the back of the animal, so that, as it moved onwards, the seed was thickly scattered. Thus it might well be that it would fall indiscriminately on beaten roadway, or on stony places but thinly covered with soil, or where the thorns had not been cleared away, or undergrowth from this thorn hedge crept into the field, as well as on good ground.’