The Sowing Machine

Mark 4:3 says, “Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow.”

You may think that I don’t know how to spell “sewing machine.” I not only know how to spell it, I know how to run one. I’m talking about a machine that sows wheat—they’re mostly called “drills.” Millions of acres have been sown with these machines. Over the years, many improvements have been made on seeding drills.

In Jesus’ day, the seed was sown by hand. The entire crop was only one or two acres in size. It may seem like so little, but it only had to support a family for a year. Remember when Jacob sent his sons to Egypt in time of drought, they each brought back a sack of grain? Wheat makes bread—the staff of life. 

It is interesting that it is a sower, not a farmer, who went out to sow. This parable is to point to a spiritual truth. In verse 14, Jesus began explaining the parable, “The sower soweth the word.” The seed is actually the Word of God. We usually look at the kinds of soil the seed lands on and how the seed is able to grow in these conditions. This is no doubt the main lesson in the parable. I would like us to consider the sower, however. 

It may seem like a simple task to have some seed in a bag and to throw it around on the ground. There was only so much seed, so much ground, and so much time. This was not the first time the sower had done this job. He was known as a “sower.” He could have been a hired man. In Luke 8:5, the sower was sowing the seed. It was likely his ground, too. If the sower was careless or lazy, there wouldn’t be a parable. As Jesus told this parable, I wonder if there actually was a sower near the crowd casting forth seed?

Let’s consider for a moment if we need to be a sower of the Word. Is, “…Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature…” (Mark 16:15) for every Christian, or only for the eleven disciples? As a new Christian, when I read this, I had to answer that question for myself. I decided it meant me.

Haggai 2:19 asks an important question, “Is the seed yet in the barn?” This is in the days after the 70 years in Babylon. God said in verse 17, “I smote you with the blasting and with the mildew and with the hail in all the labors of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord.” At this time, Zerubbabel was rebuilding the house of the Lord and Nehemiah was restoring worship and preaching the Word to the people. God was not only pleased with this revival, He was concerned with their need for a crop. At the end of the day, it was God’s crop. Though He had blasted the crop because of disobedience, He was now ready to bless them: “…from this day I will bless you” (Haggai 2:19).

How often we make such a mess of our lives. Our nation is broken and undone. Many homes are hurting, not to speak of the homeless. Is there yet a blessing for America? As long as there is seed in the barn, there is hope. Now is the time to take whatever seed is available and to get out there and sow. Leave the results to God, but sow, man, sow. Be a sowing machine!