God and you

Day 196

'Jesus also said, "The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he's asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come."'

Mark 4:26-29

Great - a parable without an explanation. What does it mean? I guess when Jesus said it he was hoping there would be some Sherlock Holmes' among us, because we have to work out what he was telling us. So, with the help of some google searching (OK, a lot of google searching), I have come up with an explanation, and actually what Jesus means by this parable is something pretty interesting and pretty important, and I don't think I've mentioned it in one of the previous 196 pages (well, that's a first).

The basic message of this parable is that God works in mysterious ways. Like the farmer who scatters seeds, Jesus has called us to plant the word of God in our friends' and family's hearts. Every day that seed grows. We can pray, and try to help our friends in knowing more of God and how wonderful his loves is, but if we think it's not working, if we think that they'll never know God, it doesn't mean that the seed isn't growing. The farmer doesn't do anything, yet the plant grows on its own. God works behind the scenes and gives the plant life to grow.

I think what I wanted to say was that it might seem that you've prayed for something lots and lots to happen, and you've been waiting for a very long time, and that god will never answer you're prayer, but that's not what this parable says. Sometimes we've just got to trust that Jesus is working behind the scenes in ways we can't understand and don't know. Jesus doesn't have all our prayers on a list of most important to least important. He answers everyone, unless it's not in his plan. Just sometimes we can't tell he's doing it!

Prayer

Dear Lord,

Thank you that you work in mysterious ways. Thank you that you answer all my prayers, because I am your child and you love me. Thank you that you help the plant to grow in other people's hearts. Please help me to trust that you listen to what I ask and you answer my prayers, even when I can't see it's happening.

Amen