Parable of the Sower – A Contrast of Two Natures

³ "Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ "And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. ⁵ "Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. ⁶ "But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. ⁷ "And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. ⁸ "But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."

Mark 4:3-8

I used to think that this parable was contrasting four different characters or natures. But it is actually contrasting two different natures: resilience to the Word through carnality or unbelief and the ability to accept the divine nature. Verses 4 to 7 convey the threefold action of the carnal nature in resisting the preached Word. Verse 8 conveys the ability to be able to receive the Word.

The birds of the air came and devoured it (v. 4). The birds of the air are evil spirits who put contradictory thoughts in the person’s mind. These thoughts are accepted because they are often very close to the beliefs and fears of the world which we have come to accept so readily.

When a person’s nature has been developed through the erection of self-protective mechanisms which oppose the truth, he falls outside of the protection afforded him by God. Therefore, he becomes an easy target for the devil and his minions to flood their mind with lies. These lies are readily accepted because they usually coincide with, and support, the lies established by the lower nature, through fear and pride, as a means of protecting itself from further harm and loss.

There is a lesson to be learned here: the more you allow the flesh nature to operate through lies and deceit according to pride, fear and lust – the more you welcome the lies and deception of the devil through evil spirits. Those evil spirits often work through the minds of other people around you: Christians with issues and selfish non-believers.

If you walk in love, you will be protected from other people’s selfishness. If you don’t walk in love and allow God to have His way in your life, you might find yourself bearing the full brunt of other people’s selfishness which might otherwise be lying dormant in them. This is not a call to works as some people would suppose it. Moreover, it is a call to establish oneself in the righteousness which can only come by firm assurance of ones value to God and right-standing with Him, apart from our works. Love only manifests itself as a person ceases from their own efforts to serve God and to gain the approval of others.

Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth (v. 5). The stony ground relates to the character of the hearer and the hardness of his heart. If a person lacks depth of character and a sense of security, he could respond to the Word out of self-preservation and a desire to get his needs met; he could even become convinced of the existence of hell, and therefore, seek salvation out of fear. But because he has not developed a character of patient endurance and a sense of security by looking unto Jesus and Him alone - he gives up quickly on his new found faith when it looks as if he won’t get his needs met after all, or when his sense of security and the approval of others is under threat. This is contrasting self-centeredness, self-effort and fear with the nature of love.

And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop (v. 7). This is relating to distractions and cares of this world and the anxious thoughts that arise in response to them. Anxiety can have the effect of choking out all sense of stability, security and wisdom. When the disciples feared for their life in the midst of a storm at sea – they failed to appreciate that the fullness of the Godhead bodily was with them, pretending to be asleep in the boat. These thorns of anxious thought become commonplace when a person tries to meet their own needs in their own strength, instead of making sincere efforts to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness: a sense of peace, joy, security and acceptance through Christ Jesus.

When the believer is able to relax because he believes and is fully persuaded of the fact that he is right with God by no effort of his own other than believing and trusting in Jesus, then he will get his needs met by God. When we fail to trust God to meet our needs, we tend to get distracted when issues arise. We then fail to spend time in the Word as we ought, not realising that if we just knew that we were right with God and were to develop a firm foundation in the Word, then there would be an ease and flow to our lives that would do away with the need to spend so much time worrying and scurrying around trying to make things happen.