Jesus spoke the parable of the sower and the seed to hide the truth and to reveal it
Your response to this parable of the sower and the seed is a testament to your spiritual condition. It’s like looking at yourself in a mirror and either seeing the truth about yourself or pretending what you want to see. It’s like turning away from a mirror and fixing the problems you see or turning away and forgetting what you saw.
But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:22-25 WEB)
Jesus explains the parable of the sower and the seed (Mark 4:1-20; Matthew 13:1–9; Luke 8:4–8)
When Jesus explains a parable, we need to listen, and believe his explanation.
The farmer sows the word. The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them. (Mark 4:14-15 WEB)
These in the same way are those who are sown on the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy. They have no root in themselves, but are short-lived. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they stumble. (Mark 4:16-17 WEB)
Others are those who are sown among the thorns. These are those who have heard the word, and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (Mark 4:18-19 WEB)
Those which were sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, some thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times.” (Mark 4:20 WEB)
An honest look in this mirror will show we all have hard ground, rocky ground, thorny ground, and good ground in ourselves. There have been times when we didn’t bother to hear God’s word. There have been times when we were offended by trouble and persecution. There have been times we have been chocked by cares and worries of this life. And, there have been times when we have heard the word of God, let it be planted deep in our hearts, and let it grow to produce good fruit in our lives.
These are the same temptations Satan gave to Adam & Eve in the garden, Jesus in the wilderness, and us today
The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:4-6 WEB)
- The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
- and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you.’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.'”
- He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:1-11 WEB)
For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. (1 John 2:16 NLT)
How can we respond to the parable of the sower and the seed?
We need to spend more time in fellowship, church, reading the Bible, meditation, and study to prepare our hearts to receive the word. We need to ask God to help our unbelief and give us patience and wisdom. We need to ask God to take away the thorny cares of this life that choke the word from being unfruitful in our lives. We need to flee from the devil, turn from the world, and crucify our fleshly desires.