Sowing Among Thorns

Last night I read and took to heart the exhortation found in Jeremiah 4:3:  "For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: "Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns."  I started thinking about the many references in scripture to thorns.  Thorns are a consequence of Adam's transgression (Gen. 3:18).  Thorns cling to clothing, fur, pierce skin, and cause pain.  Instead of providing food, thorny weeds only make more of the same.  When Jesus went to the cross bearing upon Himself the sins of the world, a crown of thorns was pressed into his scalp.  Jesus was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.  The results of sin, infamously destructive and deadly, are symbolised in the crown of thorns Jesus wore.

Jesus told a story often called "The Parable of the Sower."  Matthew 13:3-9 reads, "Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵ Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. ⁶ But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. ⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. ⁸ But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹ He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  Later in chapter 13, Jesus explains the meaning of the parable to His disciples.  The good seed represents the Word of God (Luke 8:11), and each place the seed is sown symbolises various conditions of the heart.  Some seed fell on stony ground while other seed fell on good soil.  There was also seed which fell among thorns which choked the seed.  Matthew 13:22 contains Christ's explanation:  "Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful."  It appeared to be good ground, but there were other seeds which produced thorns present in the soil.  Thorns sprang up with the tender shoots from the good seed and made them unfruitful.

If you have done any amount of gardening, you will have been confronted with weeds and thorn-bearing plants.  I have carefully cultivated a small garden plot, bought quality topsoil and amendments, only to have more prickly weeds than vegetables!  While this may be a testimony to my poor gardening, we can easily understand the point Jeremiah makes.  It would be a gross waste to sow seed upon dry, hardened, unprepared, fallow ground.  It would also be foolish to sow good seed among thorns because they would demand the nutrients young plants require to grow and be fruitful.  A distinction between Christ's teaching and Jeremiah's exhortation is that Jeremiah makes it deeply personal.  God through the prophet Jeremiah says to the people, "Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns."  This is an objective statement intended to drive home the point personally:  "You have unprepared hearts.  The consequences of sin marks your hearts:  lack of repentance, fruitlessness, hardness, and barrenness.  To think that God's Word will make the slightest impact upon your hearts in your current condition is utter folly.  Don't bother wasting your time unless you first humble yourself before God and repent.  Prepare yourself to meet with God."

As I read this, it struck me how we can fall into the same trap as the Jews to whom God spoke through the prophet.  They were God's chosen people, had been given His ordinances, and were offered fellowship with God.  But they had not first prepared their hearts to receive from Him.  They were caught up with the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches.  The problem was not a lack of good seed or effort in scattering it, but a lack of brokenness and repentance.  Their hearts were hard and the weeds - the consequences of pride, greed, unforgiveness, bitterness, and all manner of sin - grew unabated.  The good will not overcome the evil if the evil is not systematically, thoroughly eradicated.  The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin and is the divine "Round Up" that kills sin in the very root.  But if we neglect to prepare our hearts to seek the LORD, becoming resistant to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we can have a patch of thorns in our hearts which need uprooting before the good Word will have the desired effect.

Spiky weeds are an easy path to a green yard, but God wants more than green foliage:  He desires fruit!  When we are battling doubts, confused, or struggling with temptation, sometimes we think the answer lies in more Bible reading and listening to sermons.  Unless we prepare our hearts first by breaking up our fallow ground and clearing our hearts and lives of all sin, it will profit us little if at all.  Praise God that Christ is the Husbandman who gives us new hearts and renews our minds.  Let us heed the good Word:  plow up your fallow ground and sow not among thorns.  May the good result described in Colossians 1:10 be manifest in God's people:  "...that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."