When we hear the parable of the Sower and the Soils, most of the time we jump immediately to self-diagnosis, wondering which kind of soil we might be. And it is a good thing to know how Satan works in people’s lives. His most powerful tool, as verse 15 says, is simply distraction, an attempt to keep anyone from really thinking about God’s Word whenever they hear it. And in our era where information is constantly available to everyone, his job is getting easier – how many people will stop to think about this post before scrolling on?

Verse 17 reminds us that Satan can use persecution to drive people away from faith in Christ. And even in America we are increasingly tempted to coast downstream with an increasingly godless culture, to embrace political correctness rather than what Scripture teaches about marriage and family issues, to bow to the god of inclusivity rather than the exclusive claims of Christ to be the only Lord and Savior.

But we find Satan’s most deceptive attack in verse 19. How easy it is to let the daily concerns of life to crowd out time for prayer and Bible study. How easy it is to let desires for worldly things overshadow our love for Jesus. It’s no wonder that the Church in America has become so unfruitful, having so little impact on our culture.

And verse 20 reminds us that the purpose of the Christian life isn’t just for us individuals to be saved. No, we are saved in order to bear fruit. And fruit contains seeds. And seeds then need to be spread around. In other words, the truly mature Christian becomes a sower of the Word so that others can be saved.

And that’s who this parable is really for. After all, it doesn’t say anything about how soils can be improved. Jesus doesn’t tell His disciples to till up the pathways and pile up the rocks into walls and pull up the weeds and thorns. That’s because this parable really isn’t for the crowds – it’s for the disciples (v. 11). This is a parable primarily for the sowers of the Word, to explain why everyone who hears it doesn’t have their lives changed.

So, yes, let’s allow this parable to alert us to Satan’s schemes to pull us away from Christ and His Word. And let’s resolve to get busy about spreading the Word of God with our lips and with our lives. But let’s remember that while we sow, it is God alone Who can prepare the ground for the seed. So we must pray for those who see and hear even as we continue to show Christ to them.

Mark 4:10-20 (ESV)

10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables,
12 so that “‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.'”
13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
14 The sower sows the word.
15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.
16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy.
17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.
18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word,
19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”