“First the Blade, Then the Ear”
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There is life in the seed, there is power in the soil; but unless an
infinite power is exercised day and night, the seed will yield no returns.
The showers of rain must be sent to give moisture to the thirsty fields,
the sun must impart heat, electricity must be conveyed to the buried
seed. The life which the Creator has implanted, He alone can call
forth. Every seed grows, every plant develops, by the power of God.
“As the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth
the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will
cause righteousness and praise to spring forth.”
Isaiah 61:11
. As in
the natural, so in the spiritual sowing; the teacher of truth must seek
to prepare the soil of the heart; he must sow the seed; but the power
that alone can produce life is from God. There is a point beyond
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which human effort is in vain. While we are to preach the word,
we can not impart the power that will quicken the soul, and cause
righteousness and praise to spring forth. In the preaching of the word
there must be the working of an agency beyond any human power.
Only through the divine Spirit will the word be living and powerful to
renew the soul unto eternal life. This is what Christ tried to impress
upon His disciples. He taught that it was nothing they possessed in
themselves which would give success to their labors, but that it is
the miracle-working power of God which gives efficiency to His own
word.
The work of the sower is a work of faith. The mystery of the
germination and growth of the seed he cannot understand. But he has
confidence in the agencies by which God causes vegetation to flourish.
In casting his seed into the ground, he is apparently throwing away the
precious grain that might furnish bread for his family. But he is only
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giving up a present good for a larger return. He casts the seed away,
expecting to gather it manyfold in an abundant harvest. So Christ’s
servants are to labor, expecting a harvest from the seed they sow.
The good seed may for a time lie unnoticed in a cold, selfish,
worldly heart, giving no evidence that it has taken root; but afterward,
as the Spirit of God breathes on the soul, the hidden seed springs up,
and at last bears fruit to the glory of God. In our lifework we know
not which shall prosper, this or that. This is not a question for us to
settle. We are to do our work, and leave the results with God. “In the
morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand.”
Ecclesiastes 11:6
. God’s great covenant declares that “while the earth