ACORN KIND OF FAITH

Matt.13:3-9 – And He told them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and they sprang up immediately, because they had no depth of soil. But after the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. But others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much. The one who has ears, let him hear.”

I had an unusual experience last night in pre-service prayer. I was praying near the stage when I noticed an acorn laying on the floor. I stopped and wondered where it came from and went on about my business. A few moments later Pastor Chris picked up the acorn and showed it to me saying, “Look, its an acorn”. I found that moment unusual and strange but didn’t think about it again until this morning when I was reading about the parable of the sower. The seeds may take awhile to come to maturity but time will tell how the seed will do. If you don’t know, an acorn will ultimately become a majestic oak tree, it may just take a while. I began to read about the sower and came across these comes by William Barclay, pretty interesting.

“When we sow the seed, we must not look for quick results. There is never any haste in nature’s growth. It takes a long, long time before an acorn becomes an oak; and it may take a long, long time before the seed germinates in the heart of an individual. But often a word dropped into someone’s heart in childhood lies dormant until some day it awakens and its memory brings resistance to some great temptation or even preserves that person’s soul from death. We live in an age which looks for quick results; but in the sowing of the seed we must sow in patience and in hope, and sometimes must leave the harvest to the years.”

So as I reflect on what the Lord was trying to say to me last night I have come to a conclusion. Seeds bring about harvest, acorns become oak trees, seeds planted in people’s lives grow to maturity, it may just take longer than we realized. I was planting seed in people’s hearts last night just like I have done for years, the seed is God’s word, harvest is in His hands. This also had me thinking about my tree planting days in Oregon raising funds for our Bible School. I planted thousands of seedlings in barren mountains, I often wondered whatever became of those seedlings. I actually went back to one of the areas we had planted a few years ago to see a full grown evergreen forest of trees that had been planted during the years that I had been planting trees. Harvest is certain, it just takes its time. There is a miracle in every seed that we plant; all I can say is keep planting.